


The Girl of Many Names

by zemenipearls (ayaanle)



Series: Zemeni Extended Universe [5]
Category: Nikolai Series - Leigh Bardugo, The Grisha Trilogy - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Fake Marriage, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fjerda, Grishaverse, Grishaverse Big Bang 2019, Minor canon divergence, Opposites Attract, Sharing a Bed, Slow Burn, Spies & Secret Agents, THERE WAS ONLY ONE BED, Zemeni Extended Universe, novyi zem
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2020-01-06
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:15:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 38,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21932068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ayaanle/pseuds/zemenipearls
Summary: Novyi Zem, being concerned about the relationship with Ravka and the strength of their treaties amidst brewing politics, has embedded Leoni as a double-agent for years. She rose through the Little Palace and eventually worked in the Hringsa Network.Adrik Zhabin has seen the worst that war has to offer, but instead of staying in a cushy position in Os Alta, he travels north to Fjerda to help ensure other grisha have a chance at safety, where he becomes a Commanding Officer.The two of them deal with the events and fallout of King of Scars, while navigating the feelings for each other and the global politics that entrench them.Standalone part of the Zemeni Extended Universe
Relationships: Leoni Hilli/Adrik Zhabin
Series: Zemeni Extended Universe [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1396687
Comments: 54
Kudos: 45
Collections: Grishaverse Big Bang 2019





	1. Prologue - Inyoni

**Author's Note:**

> Setting: Fjerda, roughly 1 month after the events of Crooked Kingdom. 5 years after the Ravkan Civil War, when Sankta Alina defeated the Darkling at the Fold.
> 
> Characters:
> 
> Adrik Zhabin, 20: Field Commander of the Second Army, Hringsa Network. Squaller.  
> Leoni Hilli, 20: Soldier of the Second Army, Hringsa Network. Alkemi.  
> Nina Zenik, 18: Soldier of the Second Army, Hringsa Network. Corpsewitch.
> 
> Regions of Novyi Zem:  
> \- North (based on Arabic North Africa)  
> \- West (based on the Gold Coast, West Africa)  
> \- Southeast (based on Tanzania, Kenya, Mozambique area)  
> \- Southern Colonies / Ravkan territory (based on South Africa region)  
> \- Umhlaba Obiwe - Zemeni words for Southern Colonies lit; Stolen Lands
> 
> Zemeni Classification of Zowa abilities and their shorthand:
> 
> Ngaphakathi (Internal Zowa)  
> \- umzingili intliziyo / zingiyo (heartrender)  
> \- umphulukisi (healer)  
> \- ingqondo idimoni / ingmoni (heartrender specializing in the head / illusion)
> 
> Ukuthonya (External Zowa)  
> \- nabaluki (fabrikator - metals and unliving things)  
> \- imbali umkhandi / bahandi (fabrikator - flowers, wood, living things)  
> \- umoya yomlilo / 'moylilo (squallers)  
> \- inhliziyo yomlilo / inlilo (inferni)  
> \- ukuletha imvula / lethavu (tidemakers)

While blood coated the East in Ravka during the last days of a century-long war, and a dark open wound spread its misery, there was Novyi Zem, known by its citizens as Nyota Heri.

A young Squaller was hurtling through the air with a Saint, and a young Alkemi was studying in the West. A school for Zowa girls, one of the oldest in the world. Nyota Heri was in the throes of industrialization, and the Council of Elders knew that zowa power combined with human ingenuity was the future. The Alkemi knew peace and security when the Squaller stared down monsters in the dark.

Inyoni didn't think of herself as an Alkemi yet - that was a Ravkan term for Ravkan Grisha. She was _imbali umkhandi_ , or _bahandi_ in slang. She admired the other girls at the school. Some came from powerful families. Others came from nothing. But at the school, they were all equals. They all trained, and they all aspired to make life better.

She studied the greatest Zemeni zowa. The ones who created tinctures for healers, the _umphulukisi_. They learned about the very fabric of the earth and environment around them, and how to use their powers to benefit their communities. She learned how the strongest of them turned the earth inside out to create cities, to cross seas, to burn sand into unbreakable glass.

Inyoni didn't know her own ancestors. She didn’t even know what her real name was. The people that adopted her thought she was so slight she looked like a little bird. 

"Inyoni!" One of the teachers called. "You're running late for drills!"

She hurriedly finished a twist in her curls before running out. Dressed in a soft woven tank and loose linen pants, she matched the other young Zowa. 

Drills were less about fighting and more about reflexes. What if a building fell, or a wave came crashing down? What if you just wanted to open a coconut?

While Adrik Zhabin was lying, comatose, on an airship powered by two sleepless Squallers, Inyoni's skin drank the sun, natural light illuminating her work. She heard stories from Ravka - from the refugees that flooded to them in hopes of a new life. Heard about the ugly swath of shadow. But it never seemed like a real place. So desolate, so wrong.

In the shade of a tent, she recreated some of her favorite formulas, jotting them down in her notebooks. Different materials were stuffed into the pages as well. Steel bookmarks, bits of filament, dried flowers she leached the dye out of to stain her pages, just because she thought it was pretty. 

It didn't occur to her until she read first hand accounts of the war and the supposed Sun Saint, that Inyoni realized how terrible the world could be to people like her. In the East, they weren’t free. 

She was absent-mindedly playing with ink when the daughter of an ambassador walked into the open air classroom.

Long braids were twisted down to her waist, and Inyoni thought they were the most beautiful thing ever. She was fascinated by the way the long strands swayed about, decorated with gold clips and cowrie shells.

"My name is Atiena Kaboyonga, I'm here to answer some of your questions about Ravka," she said. Atiena was several years older, but had been a legendary student at the girl's school before traveling the world with her father. Her grandmother was a powerful zowa, and according to rumors so was Atiena.

"What can you tell me about Ravka?" Atiena asked.

Inyoni's hand immediately shot into the air. "Ravka is a war torn patriarchal monarchy across the _ulwandle_ ," she started. "Their culture is heavily influenced by its constant state of war with more technologically advanced Shu Han and Fjerda. It has been completely landlocked by an abyss that separates the rest of the country from the coast, created by the Black Heretic."

"And Fjerda?"

"A conservative religious oligarchy to the North, known for their extreme seasons, the tundra, military might, and barbaric persecution of zowa."

"Very good," she responded, and Inyoni felt her chest bloom. She listened eagerly as the young woman spoke about her times in Ravka and Fjerda, and even shyly mentioned her fiance. It sounded scary to be a young and healthy person in the country. But it also sounded like they could do some real good in Ravka, to bring some of the stability and outlook of Zemeni people to the region. There was already talk in the Council about giving aid to Ravka, and refugee status to any zowa and their families.

Inyoni approached Atiena after the lecture, rocking back on her heels.

The older girl wasn't as tall, but she had rich dark skin that showed off the bright kitenge pattern, and her hair in long braids. A gold piercing went through her nose, and her eyes were so dark Inyoni wondered if she could find a dye to match it.

"Hi, what is your name? How can I help you?" Atiena asked. Inyoni felt her aura was compelling. 

"I'm Inyoni. You're amazing," she squeaked. "I just. Fjerda! It's so different. I can't believe they travel and hunt down zowa. I want to go there like you. To help them."

"That's incredible of you," she responded. "And not easy. Make sure you study your Ravkan and Fjerdan. Learn to shoot. Learn to fight. And learn to listen. Then you will go far."

Inyoni believed her. She didn't know why, but after that Inyoni shifted her studies. Learned guns and their properties, how Fjerdan drüskelle targeted Zowa and stopped their abilities. Inyoni practiced her forgery and materials, moving into youth intelligence training in record time. 

Training in the next few years took her all over. From the deserts of the North to the jungle crawling with creatures. To the plains with their fog ponies that stampeded across distances. She learned how to remove the poisons without hurting herself. To recognize symptoms before someone died. She helped in communities when disease struck, and went on peace missions between feuding tribes. They built homes of solid foundations to withstand the Zemeni weather.

Liyani was the instructor of these recruits, an older woman with deep bronze skin and gray curls cut short. 

She inspected Inyoni's handiwork, mimicking the Fjerdan travel visa. 

"Good work Inyoni. But the seal has changed - there are four teeth visible on the wolf's upper jaw now. Pay attention to your details." She paused. "Meet me when you're done."

Inyoni shook her head, disappointed in herself. Mistakes like that got refugees killed. She carefully removed the excess ink from the parchment and redid it. When she felt it was perfect, she went to where Liyani was waiting for her. 

"You've shown tremendous talent and drive," the older woman started. "What I am about to say is sworn in total secrecy and punishable by the Council. Do you accept these terms?"

Inyoni nodded. 

"The Council has tasked me with finding a young zowa for an intelligence assignment. We need an informant in the country. Their Second Army has been devastated by their war between the _isinengiso_ and the sun summoner. They are trying to recruit Zowa around the world with the promise of training, including stealing away our own. We have reason to suspect Ravka will not always be our friend."

Inyoni's eyes widened, but she nodded her understanding. 

"We also know," Liyani cleared her throat. "You are extremely likeable by those from the East, and adaptable. Your language, forgery, and observation skills make you a perfect fit. Will you accept this assignment? We would prepare you immediately."

The two met eyes. “This is not something to take lightly. You are young and this will be difficult. It will be lonely, and it will test you in ways I can’t predict. I wish we didn’t need to do this at all.” Liyani sighed. “It feels like stooping to their level, asking this of a child. But still, I ask.”

Inyoni nodded. There was no question. "For Nyota Heri and Zowa everywhere, I will."

When she set foot a month later in the Little Palace, she had freshly forged birth papers in her hand, along with her new name. Os Alta was chilly, but the purple kefta she donned was comfortable. Before she went to sleep for the first time in a new country, she mouthed her new name in the mirror.

Leoni Hilli. 

Leoni Hilli. 

Leoni Hilli.


	2. Adrik

_Alina had a point,_ Adrik thought as he forced down a sandwich. _Herring is terrible._

His blonde hair and light eyes helped him fit in with the Fjerdans, especially with a hat low on his head and fisherman's garb. He thought Ravkans ate a lot of herring, but Fjerda? Seemed to be in every other meal. But he needed to eat, and the shack selling food on the dock had limited options. 

New intelligence members for his command were arriving. A new Corporalki named Mila, and a Fabrikator that was transferring from another team. 

The weather was dreary and gray, which matched the dreary and gray sea. When he finished his herring, he wiped his hands on the dreary and gray shirt he wore. It was ten minutes until the Fabrikator was supposed to arrive, and then they would meet the Corporalki in a new place. His contact with Ravka was infrequent, due to security risks, but they had said great things about them. All he knew was that he was looking for two women.

Five minutes past the meeting time, with herring sitting uncomfortably in his stomach, Adrik was worried. What if the person got intercepted? What if their Fjerdan wasn’t good enough? What if yet another grisha was lying in some cold ditch. What if - 

A woman ran into him, dropping her bag. Out of habit he kneeled down to help pick it up. When he did, she leaned in and whispered in Ravkan, “The sun shines brightest after the long winter.”

Careful not to react, Adrik stood up and handed her the bag. It was a young Zemeni woman around his age. Her accented Ravkan had the flow of the Southern Colonies, and what looked like long braids were tucked under a modest fur-lined scarf. The bag was heavy, and he presumed full of supplies, and she had another bag on her back. 

Despite the dismal sky, landscape, and people, she somehow had a glow to her skin and a smile on her face. It was alarming. In Ravkan, he responded quietly. “And then the flowers break through.”

He wrapped his arm around her, and they looked like a typical couple at the docks. They chat about nothing of value in Fjerdan until the safe house, Adrik impressed by her skills. Her mannerisms were perfect for a Fjerdan woman. Shy and reserved, keeping her large brown eyes downcast and clinging to him. 

Once in the safe house, they dropped the act. “Thank you for reporting, soldier. What’s your name?”

“Thank you _Shtabofitser_ ,” she started. “Leoni Hilli. I was stationed at Chernast before receiving orders. I’ve got my kit and clothes, and new papers for you requested by General Nazyalenskaya.” 

He took the document from her and scanned over it. It was perfection. Every little security check the Fjerdan government used was accounted for, even the semi-translucent insignia on the back. It was the finest piece of forgery he’d ever seen. 

"I’m Adrik." He was pleased, but they needed to get on the road. "Or according to this, I am Adrik Murray." Zemeni citizenship and a Kaelish national. Countries with freedom of movement in Fjerda.

"And I am your wife Leoni Murray, picking up your widowed sister Mila Janderstadt."

"And Nadia said no one could love a face like this," he joked. "Now I have a wife without trying."

Leoni laughed, and he was pleased with himself. He left orders with the two _Hringsa_ members remaining at the safe house, before departing with Leoni. He got onto the carriage when he heard a throat clearing. 

She was primly waiting on the other side. "Mr. Murray, you should assist your wife."

"I would love to give you a hand, but then I wouldn't have any," he retorted, then immediately winced. _Nice going, Adrik. She's under your command._ But instead of being offended, she laughed. It sounded out of place in the alley. So he shuffled out of his seat and offered his hand to her. Maybe he had been around Fjerdans for too long.

On the ride, Adrik didn't want to talk. Which was fine, because Leoni talked. Observations about Fjerda and their customs, interesting political tidbits, and the fascinating (to her) process of chemicals in Fjerda that made it one of the most difficult to imitate. He was grateful for the distraction, and useful information he didn't know. 

They made it to the next safe house and Leoni immediately began to move furniture around to create a work space. She discarded her Fjerdan scarf and shook out long braids that went past her shoulder blades. He'd never seen anything like it.

Throwing her coat onto the bed that he’d initially wanted, she sat down at the desk and lay out her supplies. Adrik appreciated that she didn't wait around to be productive, but he was also unsure what to do. She was positioned where the sunlight would come in through the window, and now there was a pair of bizarre glasses on her face, with different magnifying glasses. 

"You look like an insect," he blurted out, and immediately regretted it.

"I'm not the biting kind," she replied. "It's okay if you need to leave, by the way. You can move around discreetly without a Zemeni woman on your arm. I can figure out a gun."

Chastised and dismissed, he went to meet his "sister" at the station. Adrik may have been somber even for a Ravkan, but he was standard fare in Fjerda. And would fit in quite nicely if it weren't for the genocide of Grisha and lack of interesting conversations.

A tall woman with platinum hair and frosty blue eyes sat on the bench where he was waiting, motioning for the porter to bring her excessive luggage. He blinked. She was a lot more assertive than most Fjerdan women would ever be. Even Leoni, who insisted she stayed behind, looked more Fjerdan in comparison.

"The sun shines brightest after a long winter," he whispered.

"Good to see you, Adrik," she responded. "If I had known it was you I wouldn't have gotten all dressed up."

He nearly had a heart attack hearing his name. "I've never met you," he whispered. "Dear sister."

"I'm so sad you don't recognize me. But I did have brown hair. Green eyes. A magnificent body and skin. Now reduced to this."

Only one person he ever knew talked like that, and now he was approaching an aneurysm. "We can't talk about this here. Let's get you and the closet you brought with you out of here. My wife is waiting there."

The door barely closed when Adrik whipped around. "Nina Zenik, what the _fuck._ "

From upstairs he heard Leoni's voice. "Wait!"

The two Ravkans paused while there were a couple of clangs and the rapid patter of feet down the stairs. Bright eyed Leoni burst into the living area and looked at them. "That's Nina Zenik?" Adrik could have sworn she was disappointed. "Everyone said she had green eyes and larger -" Leoni motioned in front of her chest. "You know."

"I'm glad my reputation precedes me," Nina said with a toss of her hair. "This body is not mine. Genya sends her regards."

Leoni gasped and went over, touching Nina's hair. "The color work is stunning. She managed to perfectly catch the Fjerdan undertones. And the depth of your coloring, even with the pale skin." Leoni was standing on her tiptoes, thrilled by the color theory of Genya's work.

"I haven't seen you in years. Since the Wandering Isle -"

Nina cut Adrik off. "And I was captured. I remember." Under Zoya’s command, they had been looking for grisha who wanted to come to Ravka to train. Last he heard, there were still no schools even though persecution had been outlawed. Until Nina came face-to-face with the druskelle. When she was captured and they thought for sure she would end up hanging in the Ice Court. Another name on the list of the dead. He was used to the unending grief at this point.

But here she was, alive and belligerent as ever. Adrik opened the door to look at the stuff she brought. "Saints, I hope you brought some presents for us in all that luggage." 

"I'm the present. The best kind, a complete surprise."

They grabbed her luggage and Adrik cursed as he brought them in. One required both him and Nina to help while Leoni talked about how much she wished she could help from the sofa. He almost smiled at her nonchalant posture.

"What the hell is this?" Adrik waved, gesturing wildly at the oblong case. "How did you even get this into the country?"

"The same way you got into the country, by lying." Nina shrugged her shoulders. She lay on the couch next to Leoni and began to speak in Zemeni.

Leoni stifled a giggle that became uncontrollable, while the Ravkans looked on in confusion. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Just your accent is so fun!"

Nina slept downstairs at her insistence that night, leaving Adrik and Leoni upstairs. She tinkered around with parchments, using the late summer sun to help. She was still working when Adrik finally went to sleep. 

Stress didn’t let him sleep well. Especially when he had two grisha women under his care now, in a country that hated both grisha and women. It sat on his chest and lurked in every corner. And when he woke up, he woke up to do the same thing again. Try to protect them, try to help grisha escape. He didn’t even have his mechanical arm with him - both his body and mind felt incomplete.

When he got out of bed, she was already back at work. Adrik yawned and furrowed his brow, looking over at Leoni's bed, which seemed untouched. 

"Did you get any sleep?" He asked. _Hypocrite,_ he thought to himself. "We have a long day ahead of us."

"Of course. I made the bed. I also have some coffee here for you. You look like you take it with cream no sugar." She turned around and looked at him. "Am I right?"

Adrik stared at Leoni. It would have made more sense if she grew a tail or turned into a beam of light than the energy she had this early. "Yes, actually."

The carriage was secured and horses hitched quickly. Adrik hid a coded note, leaving instructions for the next _Hringsa_ soldiers who would be there. He got into the carriage and sat down, worried he was forgetting something.

A small cough sounded, and Adrik stood up to help Leoni in. They had a long trip to Elling. Leoni wasn't as talkative, but still chirped in at whatever story Nina was regaling. _Nina also talks a lot,_ he mused. But it felt forced. Trying to cover the silence. She wouldn’t stop bragging about her time in Ketterdam, and people who had nothing to do with the situation they were in.

"You really like waffles," Leoni observed. 

"That's the understatement of the century."

Leoni let out a great yawn and finally gave in, climbing into the body of the carriage to sleep while Adrik stayed outside with Nina. 

"These Fjerdan standards of masculinity are shit," he complained. "I'm stuck driving the entire time, minding the horses. With equality I could take a damn break."

"You would put up with limited options and repression of human desires to take a break?"

"I wouldn't mind sitting in a house all day." Adrik chuckled as Nina exploded with indignity at his comment, talking about how misinformed he was. Nevermind that he had been stationed in Fjerda for almost two years, and that he was just annoying her. "You're pretty rude to your Commanding Officer."

"I remember when you broke your nose because you tripped while looking at Zoya."

Adrik rolled his eyes. He wondered briefly how life at the Little Palace was. It housed his best and worst memories. And it currently held the mechanical arm that David crafted for him, but it was too obviously Grisha in design and had to be left behind. He also wondered how Leoni was doing in the back. She was a curious person, different from the operatives he typically worked with. Nikolai rarely sent those who stood out in Fjerda and couldn’t be tailored. So something was special about Leoni. He knew Nina and what to expect from her. It was exhausting.

When they arrived in the city of Elling, it started as a tingle in his nose. Then, it turned into an assault on every single one of his senses, coating his tongue and making his eyes water. 

"We must be close to Elling!" said Leoni. She popped her head out and Adrik looked back, seeing her nose stuffed with jurda petals. He had never seen such a sight. "It's the fish canneries. Their process is really fascinating, the lye actually -"

She stopped when there was the sound of soldiers around the bend. It was too late for Nina to switch spots with Leoni so they settled in, Adrik glad that Leoni arrived with forged papers already.

The two Fjerdan soldiers flagged them down and Adrik pulled over. One looked curiously between them. A Zemeni woman in the carriage, with Adrik on top with Nina, who’s features at least looked Fjerdan. “Good day sir,” they called out to him.

Adrik gave a curt nod. “Officers. How can I help you?”

“Checkpoint. May I see your papers?” 

The three of them pulled out their papers, Adrik looking for the first sign of trouble. “What are you doing in Fjerda?” The younger-looking one asked Leoni.

She gave a dazzling smile. Against her dark skin, it was quite a beautiful effect. “My husband has business with the good men of Fjerda. I am here to support him in all his endeavors.” She kept her eyes lowered, only looking up to smile sweetly again. Good lord. Nina could learn a thing or two about charm. “Keep his home, even while we are traveling.”

They considered this, while looking over the papers. “Exactly as a wife should be.” Then they handed them back to Adrik. “You’re free to go.”

Adrik began to drive away, and they kept the conversation light until a good distance away. “Great job soldier. Thank you.”

“They are quite predictable,” she said from the back. Adrik smiled to himself.


	3. Leoni

Leoni wore her Fjerdan alibi like a third skin, careful not to be too convincing. _Zemeni rifle merchant with her husband_ . She didn't want Adrik or Nina to see the real her slipping through. The one discarded when she set foot in Ravka all those years ago. She missed speaking Zemeni, and occasionally wondered if it would still be familiar when she returned home.

She practiced her new last name in the mirror before going to work on her forgery. She liked this part of her work - the details. Leoni could forget the world around her as she made the paper and ink bend to her will with imperceptible movements. The way the ink moved as she breathed, how she could mimic the penmanship techniques of every region. The strong and angular Fjerdan, the elegant brush strokes of Shu, the blocky Ravkan. 

The boarding house was warm enough for her Zemeni constitution, with creaking floors that alerted them well before anyone knocked. In Leoni’s case, she could also hear Nina or Adrik well before they entered. 

"I'm heading to meet more soldiers," Adrik said. "Do you need anything before I leave?" 

"No, _Shtabofitser,_ I'll continue my work here." Their next group of grisha was tricky. Three young people leaving Fjerda were the hardest to place. Especially when they didn't know another language, to fake being Kaelish or Kerch. She started on their student travel papers to University of Ketterdam instead, perfectly replicating the Kerch paperwork. 

She waited until Adrik left and went down the stairs to take out the false bottom of her kit, where she kept her journal. She jotted down observations about her first couple days in Fjerda, using an obscure Zemeni dialect unknown to most Eastern folks. 

Leoni was surprised that Nina Zenik of all people had been brought into the mission. Her time at the Little Palace had taught her a lot. There were whispers about Nina. She had a price on her head in Fjerda. She was a perversion of Grisha powers.

_Ugh. Grisha._ Leoni didn't like that word. It made it seem like all of them came from the Ravkan saint, instead of being their own people. But mostly she didn't like how Ravka saw themselves as the forefront of zowa development. That they were the only place to get a proper training. 

As a member of Zemeni intelligence, she learned to shoot at a young age. To fight. To be on the field. Ravkans confined their _bahandi_ to workshops and looked down on them until recently. Leoni didn't understand it. Where she grew up, zowa weren't trained only for military purposes, but also to help their communities. 

So the Fjerdan mission was perfect. Even if she had to pretend she had never seen combat and couldn't use weapons. That she barely knew any Fjerdan. 

_That is not you anymore,_ she reminded herself. Not until her service was over. _That girl was left on the shores of Ravka._ So she finished her report, then covered it in a special Zemeni invention that rendered the ink invisible until held over a fire. Then she became Leoni again - who built a precarious life in Os Alta.

Done with her work, she turned back to the papers. She also needed to tidy up her marriage certificate to Adrik. The Fjerdans were a prudish sort in general. The homogeneity of the country was strange to her - the people looked very similar. This was vastly different from home, where people came in every shade of brown, with various bodies, faces, and beliefs. 

Her long twists were tied up in a bun on top of her head, a fabrikated hair scarf around her edges, one of the few facets of Nyota Heri still in her life. She wondered about little things from home. If mangoes were ripe, if the sun was shining bright. The colorful kitenge on men and women, and the spicy food that always filled her up. 

But instead she was in a boarding house, hidden away, working on papers to free Fjerdan zowa. Hours had passed by when the creak of the floorboards sounded. A knock, and then both Nina and Adrik entered. 

She put a smile on her face. They were both blonde and pale with light eyes, and with the way Nina was tailored, they could have been related. Adrik had a serious expression that made her curious. After all, he hadn't been mean, and he let her talk his ears off on the ride. 

Adrik was famous at the Little Palace. After all, he had worked with _the_ Sankta Alina when the other young grisha (Nina included) had fled to Keramzin, and had lost his arm to the terrible volcra of the Fold she once read about as a child. His sister had passed Leoni numerous times in the hall. But people didn’t say much about him outside of his wartime efforts. What he was like, or who he was when there wasn’t a fight. Ravka wasn't a nightmare country anymore. It was just sad. 

"How is my husband doing?" She asked cheerfully. Adrik's surprise genuinely made her happy. How he seemed uncomfortable, yet the barest hint of a smile twitched at his lip. There was something sad about him she desperately wanted to chase away. There was already heavy work to be done, she couldn’t bear to live with it too. He walked over to her, peeking at the Zemeni style marriage certificate.

"They meant it when they said you're the best. It's so wonderful not to be let down." His tone was dry, but she still warmed at the compliment. "Want me to dry it?"

"Please, _Shtabofitser,_ " she said with a smile. She pushed the chair back as he sent gentle warm air over the ink. 

Nina sat down on the bed, looking at the expanse of Leoni's kit. When the ink was finally dry to touch, they sat facing each other. 

"Leoni, after Nina and I talked about it, we need to fill you in on her Grisha status,” Adrik began. His voice was neither deep nor high. But she found the northern Ravkan way of speaking pleaant. 

Her heart began to thump in her chest. This was information she wanted. The Ravkan that survived parem. Zemenis, the cultivators of jurda, were too civilized to test on human beings. But that didn't mean she couldn't learn from the people who did and pass the knowledge on. 

"The parem changed my power," Nina stated plainly. "The living no longer call to me, but the dead." She revealed the fabrikated bones in her sleeve to fight with. Once again, Leoni was impressed with David's handiwork. No matter how her time in the East turned out, she was happy to have studied with him. 

As Nina explained what her powers entailed, Leoni committed everything to memory. She didn’t just manipulate bones, but she could sense the sickness and dead inside a body. Leoni thought that was an incredible way to detect disease in someone in combination with a healer. Rumor from Ketterdam was that a Corporalki on parem could control people’s minds. But she had no idea where Nyota Heri’s current research was.

"Does this have anything to do with the stuff you brought from Ravka?" Adrik asked. There was a toughness to his voice that wasn’t always there - his officer voice. 

Leoni cocked her head curiously as a war began on Nina's features. The other girl’s lips parted, eyebrows drawn together. She took a deep breath. Then another. "Yes." She risked a look at Adrik. He looked decidedly unhappy with her, tension tight in the corners of his mouth.

"What is it?" Adrik continued. Leoni could sense some of the frustration rolling off of him.

"My…" Nina took a couple a steadying breaths. "His name was Matthias Helvar. The drüskelle who kidnapped me and then saved me. Many times.” Leoni’s stomach curled. “He was trying to teach another Fjerdan not to hate our kind when he was killed. He deserves to be buried here. His home."

Adrik's face turned red. Not the pleasant red when he blushed or was shy. Anger. "You're telling me you brought the body of a Fjerdan that we have to lug around with us. On a mission?!" Then he hissed under his breath, like he was afraid he would lose control. “And not just any Fjerdan, a drüskelle. The people dedicated to finding and murdering us?!”

“I don’t expect you to understand.”

“I expected you to have some common sense, soldier.” Adrik pinched the bridge of his nose. Leoni was acutely aware of the restraint.

"They fabrikated a shroud for him that helps preserve him." Nina looked over at Leoni. "But it will need maintenance."

Leoni blinked. "Are you asking me to preserve a corpse that will be traveling with us?"

"Yes."

Internally she recoiled. It was an abomination of sorts. But that's not what Leoni Hilli would do. She put on as sincere a face as possible, reaching out to touch her hand. Leoni tried to think of her as a girl. A girl who made a ridiculous decision, who was blinded by lust or love. The drüskelle were famous even in her homeland for their brutality. Fjerda was warned away from zowa under a blistering treaty. "Of course. He deserves to rest,” she lied.

"You don't see anything wrong with this?" Adrik demanded,, looking between them. "This isn't safe."

"We can disguise him under the rifles," Leoni answered. She gave him a big smile and put a gentle hand on his shoulder. He seemed startled at first, but then relaxed. The Ravkans were so touch averse compared to Zemenis. "We can help her in this hard time." She prayed to the ancestors he bought her act.

Adrik closed his eyes. "Fine."

Leoni smiled at him. There was something nerve wracking in Nina’s energy, something she could feel that wasn’t quite right. It wasn’t evil or bad. But the woman was unsettled. _Maybe the parem,_ she thought. _Or maybe the grief._

‘Mila’, being a widow, was allowed to work. Leoni was too distinct in appearance, so she went out with Adrik to make sales. She was used to being the only Zemeni. She’d been only one at the Little Palace for a year, before they brought a couple from the Stolen Lands. But they had been royalists with light hair and loose skin, raised on Ravkan pride and propaganda. Now she was probably the only Zemeni in the entire north of Fjerda.

They had plenty of rifles to sell and pamphlets to hand out, and it was refreshing to give her eyes a break from the forgery. Adrik spoke Zemeni well, even if his accent was distinct to her. The way his tongue rested between words made them strange but fascinating. But Adrik didn’t try to over-do the ‘correct’ pronunciation, which Leoni appreciated. It was nice to speak her first language, and Zemeni was safer than Ravkan, which would arouse instant suspicion from the locals.

“What does my husband do for fun?” Leoni asked, looking up at him. He wasn’t much taller than her so their elbows matched perfectly, and she thought they looked good together. Part of her disguise was a simple gold wedding band. Countless operatives had probably worn it before her. He had one as well. “When we’re not selling advanced Zemeni rifles.”

Adrik had that small hint of a smile again, the one she wanted to tease out. “Mostly praying to the Saints we make it out alive.”

“Such unpleasant thoughts? You should distract yourself.” She beamed at him. “Remember that dinner party we went to?”

“I would never go to a dinner party. Insufferable.”

“At the moment I can relate,” Leoni said with a cheeky grin. “But this was the solstice celebration with the MacCalls. Dillon MacCalls’ hair piece fell right into his soup.”

Adrik rolled his lips in, green eyes crinkled at the corners. “Come again? What is happening right now?”

Leoni continued as if he didn’t speak. “We were all going to pretend it didn’t happen, but then you had to say,” Leoni pitched her voice lower in her best imitation of Adrik, “ _Do I have to wait to eat?’_ and well, you remember the rest.”

“I’m not sure I do.”

“He turned red as a cherry. Stood and left in a huff, and Mrs. MacCall pretended like nothing even happened and told us about her draperies.”

“Draperies?” Adrik asked.

“They were very fine draperies.”

Leoni’s smile stretched impossibly wide when Adrik let out the smallest chuckle. Then he shook his head, apparently trying to clear the joy from his body. “We should knock on a few businesses,” he said. She frowned a bit. “So people can say they’ve seen us working.”

Noticing the slump of his shoulder and the way he slightly turned away from her, Leoni looked up at the sky and then ahead. She shook out her own shoulders and stood up straight. After a small silence she pointed at an inn. “Why don’t we stop there, _Shtabofitser_? Looks like a hub for sailors.”


	4. Adrik

Adrik didn't know how Leoni did it. She hummed when they dug their sledge out from the mud. Every morning she was up before him. Nina worked at the cannery and complained. Every day. Not to mention the dead body they had for a month now. 

This mission was brutal. Every day despite their best attempts, Grisha went missing. Children. Grandmothers. Healthy adults. Each time they missed the drop point, he watched Leoni take her exceptional handiwork, and burn it in the fireplace.  _ I miss Harshaw, _ he thought.

Nina was getting harder to reign in. It was clear she had a blatant disregard for chain of command. Every day he worried it would be the day she blew their cover. 

Leoni took everything in stride. Worked relentlessly on documents and letters, only taking breaks to stroll with him and be seen in public meeting with merchants who docked. Leoni was charming, even to the patriarchal Fjerdans. They always deferred to him, of course, but they managed to smile at Leoni.

He wanted to talk to her - get to know her. But he was her commanding officer and his stomach twisted in knots when he watched her. They were making rounds again, and she slid her elbow through his. 

"I'm not sure that's appropriate for Fjerda,  _ milaya, _ " he grumbled. Not that he minded. 

"Well, dear husband, we are Zemeni." She had a point. Zemenis were affectionate, he knew that from his studies. Leoni certainly was. "Remember when you met my father and you didn't know what to do?"

It was a game now. He fought against it initially, but Leoni had a way of winning him over. "In my defense, he's a very intimidating man."

They created a story around meeting her parents. Adrik couldn't tell if they were real or not - she didn't discuss Novyi Zem often. He found himself curious about them. Were they as sunny as her? What did they do, and why did they send her to Ravka? Everyone knew his story, but he didn’t know hers.. 

After making their rounds, they went back to the boarding house. Down in the lobby, Leoni's face lit up. He followed her gaze and saw another Zemeni merchant sitting there. "I haven't seen anyone from home in weeks," she said. "I'm going to see if they have any dried plantains, then I'll meet you in the room."

He watched as Leoni introduced herself to the older Zemeni man, and they began to speak rapidly, sitting at the table together. Adrik thought about eavesdropping, but he was tired, so he made the ascent up the stairs. 

It was a considerable time before she came back to the room, holding a little bag and a smile on her face. She sat back down at her work table, stretching her hands above her head. Adrik watched as she swung her heavy twists back and tied them with a scarf. She had all these little rituals he didn’t understand. Without missing a beat, she put on her glasses and got to work.

"You got your snack," Adrik grunted. _Do I really sound like that?_ He grimaced, and pulled out the other chair at her desk. Putting space in between them, he watched as she worked on university transcripts for Fjerdan customs.

Leoni looked up from her work, eyes comically bigger from her fabrikated glasses, and a small smile on her lips. She pulled out a slice and stuck it in front of his mouth. "Try it." She gently pushed the plantain against his lips. 

"Fine." He felt like a fool as he opened his mouth. The plantain had been dried and salted, and had a pleasant taste. Adrik could see why Leoni wanted it. Or maybe he had been eating too much herring. He stood up and went to the more comfortable chair. "I'm going to take a nap." 

"Everytime we go somewhere you're taking a nap. Remember our honeymoon?"

"How could I forget," he said. "I've never had such a bad sunburn."

"I told you to use that cream."

"My wife does know best."

He drifted to sleep easily, realizing the only reason he stayed up was to make sure Leoni got back to their room. Adrik’s dreams were never pleasant, which was why he didn’t sleep well. Sometimes he was flying through the sky over war-torn Ravka. Sometimes he was in the Fold. But most of the time he was in the Elbjen. And he was fifteen again, and then monsters poured out from every part of the floor until they swallowed every piece of him and his loved ones. Nadia. Tamar. Tolya. Zoya. Nikolai.

Adrik woke up, focused on keeping his breathing even. He took comfort in gravity. The soft light of fall setting early in Fjerda, and the fire that must have started while he was asleep. He looked towards Leoni, who was reading a paper with strange intensity. Her mouth was softly moving as she read, and he saw her shoulders sag. What was it? What news did she learn? Leoni wasn’t supposed to be handling any intelligence correspondence, it went through him. Before he could ask, she quickly stood and tossed it into the fireplace.

_ What in the Saints, _ he thought. He wanted to confront and comfort at the same time. Her back was towards him but she sniffed and reached up to her face.  _ Is she crying? _ When she turned around, he closed his eyes. He was probably overreacting. She seemed like the type to get emotional over a poem.

Adrik made a show of shuffling loudly awake, and Leoni transformed. Her back was straight, and there was a smile on her face and no evidence she had been upset. “About time you woke up!”

Her voice and eyes were so clear, Adrik wasn’t sure if it happened. Or if it was some hallucination from all the bad food and stress. “I’ve finished the university transcripts for the young ones.”

Adrik genuinely smiled. Transporting healthy young adults was impossible. Leoni was one of the few Alkemi who could accurately recreate the papers quickly. No wonder she was stationed under him in Fjerda. 

“They would be great additions for the Second Army,” he said. “If they choose.”

“Whatever they do, the papers are here,” she replied, before putting her glasses back on. “I’ll begin working on the next batch.”

Adrik cleared his throat and she looked up at him. “Yes,  _ Shtabofitser _ ?”

“Thank you,” he started. “For all your work. This would fall apart without you. Not just the forgery but maintaining… the body.” Even thinking about it made him uncomfortable. 

“Of course, it's my duty.” She winked at him, and then settled back into her work. 

* * * * * *

The ship was finally full, and after a grueling two months in the city, they were ready to send them off. Until the girls didn’t show up. They were short wives, and Adrik paced the room while Leoni worked carefully and quickly. She hadn’t slept in days, since the women failed to meet their handlers. Adrik hoped they simply didn’t show up, out of fear. But experience taught him better. He saw the bodies of Marie, Sergei, Harshaw, Stigg, Fedyor, Paja, and countless others in front of him. And the long list of both Ravkan and Fjerdan Grisha who were never heard from again.

Nina called him a pessimist, but she hadn’t seen war like he had. The brutality and never-ending onslaught of it. But here he still was, in a country that would rather see them all dead than get over their prejudice.

Nina agreed to be the man’s wife, and Adrik and Leoni simply altered their story a little for the docks. Their ‘arrangement’ was progressively easier. Leoni didn’t incessantly comment on his dark mood, unlike Nina.  _ She has no right to complain when we’re dragging around that corpse. _

But more than that, Nina was volatile. She was like an ocean throwing the ship around, while Leoni and Adrik did their best to mitigate the damage. But on the docks that day, Nina capsized them. It's not that the Fjerdan didn’t deserve to die - they all saw the way he tortured Grisha captives and murdered them. But the expense of one life put hundreds more in the Hringsa network at risk. Adrik would need to tell the King about this, but first they needed to get moving.

“I’m not going to miss this town.” The crew was staring, bumbling around instead of getting to work. He snapped at them. “Stop staring and help us get the bodies on board. We’ll dispose of them when we reach open water.”

It was a brutal job, and anger stewed in him as he worked. This was the best place to operate out of, with the least amount of security this far North. Now it was all ruined because Nina couldn’t hold her temper. When they sent the boat off and began to row back to shore, he finally spoke. “There’s going to be trouble when those men are discovered missing.”

“Good thing we’ll be long gone.” 

He couldn’t understand Nina’s reaction. She was acting like she stole a cookie, not like she jeopardized everything they were doing, and the other Grisha of Fjerda. But Leoni spoke up before he could. “We won’t be able to operate out of this port anymore.”

Adrik was grateful Leoni said what he was thinking, but she also called it a victory. There was a point - Birgir had many enemies. Foul play was reasonable. But a one-armed man and a Zemeni woman on the dock would definitely be suspect. Nina didn’t stand out like they did - she had no idea. The women discussed where to go next as Adrik was thinking about his letter of recommendation that Nina be removed from operative work. 

“We should go to Kejerut, to Gäfvalle. The fugitives who didn’t make it to the safe house didn’t just change their minds.”

Adrik closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “You know they were most likely captured,” he said. And more would be. Nina may be the corpsewitch, but he was intimately familiar with death. It surrounded everything. It stunk the ground they walked on. Tainted every technological advancement. And now they were dragging a body along with them.

He agreed to check out Gäfvalle, because he could tell Nina wasn’t going to let up about it. The mission had gone ass up anyway, and by the time his letter about the port reached Tsar Nikolai, they would hopefully be on their way out of the town and towards a new port.

“One more thing,” he said. He made sure Nina’s fake blue eyes were looking right at him. Also maintained by Leoni’s careful hands. He hardened his voice. “Our job is to find recruits and refugees. Whatever we discover in Gäfvalle, we are not there to start a war. We gather intelligence, open communication, provide a path to escape for those who want it, and that’s all.”

“That’s the plan,” Nina responded. But he didn’t trust her. And how could he have a team without trust? As Nina turned around to tie up the rowboat, Leoni stood next to him. For the briefest of moments, she touched her hand to his. A small comfort, after the awful day they had. Then she joined Nina, and he began mapping out the new route in his mind.

At least the ride to Gäfvalle was uneventful - Leoni humming every so often and he wondered what Zemeni songs were on her mind. There were some Ravkan ones he remembered that Nadia used to sing to him. But mostly he was stuck listening to Nina speak of nothing very important, catching up on events in Ravka she missed while she was gone. 

The dead body added unnecessary weight, but it also was like an ominous presence dragging behind them. Adrik didn’t consider himself very superstitious - a life of war and witnessing massacres did that to a person. But it felt ominous to have someone who spent years hunting them in their care. Responsible for him.  _ How is Leoni okay with this? _ he wondered.

Adrik wasn’t pleased at the state of accommodations. He would rather be in a room, warm and comfortable, instead of being in a stable. Leoni pouted for the first time. After seeing Nina pout so often, he was surprised at the difference on Leoni’s face. “Sorry about that,  _ umyeni, _ ” she said. She stressed the nickname, and he bizarrely appreciated that she called him ‘husband’ in public and in private. “Maybe you can sneak into our room when the Springmaidens are out.”

“I could never get away with that in Fjerda,” he bemoaned. He thought about the undoubtedly cold room he would be in. They were walking about the town and at some point Leoni linked her elbow into his, as they occasionally stopped and pretended to be tourists.

“If this were the Little Palace we would be warming up in the  _ banya _ right now,” Leoni said. She let out a great big sigh that rivaled his. “I miss that warm water. My favorite thing to do after a day in the workshop.”

“Too bad there’s a water ration.” They would need to examine that for sure.

Leoni considered this. “Maybe we can find a warm puddle somewhere.” She smiled at him. “Will you be alright in the stables?” She asked, that concerned look on her face again. He wanted to keep it away.

“I’ll manage. A one-armed lecher can still prey upon the horses. The Wellmother never thought of that.”

She laughed. A great sound in the dismal street. “It’s the wolves who go unseen that eat the most sheep.” 

He stifled a chuckle, happy until he saw Nina’s glance towards them. There was a hardness in her face that was alarming before she turned away. They were here at her suggestion - she was getting everything she wanted. Lugging around the corpse, coming out to Nowhere Fjerda. He didn’t understand where the hostility was coming from. They continued their walk and subtle observation of the factory. “Alright, let’s settle in and then we can get to work.”

They agreed to try to find the source of the poison, but he was worried about Leoni. Poison was finicky. And the Alkemi who worked with it were always watched carefully and told to minimize their contact with poisons. Nina wasn’t a Corporalki anymore, she couldn’t heal if something went wrong.


	5. Leoni

The land felt foul to her. Maybe it was her own bias, and longing for the saturated landscape of Nyota Heri, but everything felt wrong in the shadow of the mountain. Leoni walked through the woods with Adrik and Nina. She forced herself this time to keep a bigger distance from Adrik. She felt herself being pulled to him, but that was a bad idea. It was fine playing pretend - but it was only going to make things difficult. 

Nina had her moments of sweetness, but then her moments of lashing out. It concerned her, and she wished she could have told her handler what was happening. But Zemeni intelligence was resourceful - they would figure it out. 

The news from home was not good. Their contact in the Little Palace informed them of Ravka's plans to double back on Zemeni deals, selling technology that would be used by the Kerch against them. Leoni always knew it was a possibility. Nikolai would break every treaty if it meant filling Ravka's coffers. But it still stung. She wanted to be under the sun protecting her home, but this was where she could make the biggest difference for now. Until she was summoned.

She was still homesick when they encountered the soldiers in the woods. But they weren't soldiers. She knew that right away. It was obvious from the fit of their clothes and boots, to the girl that was hanging off of her horse. 

The horse was shaggier than the ones in Nyota Heri that evolved for the sun. But they were still horses. 

“I know my way around horses,” Leoni piped up. 

But her feelings were hurt as Adrik rolled his eyes. “Here we go.” 

“It will ingratiate us with the locals,” she said, making her way towards them. “We could use some soldier friends.” 

“Soldier friends?” Nina asked incredulously. 

“Come on,” said Adrik. “If we leave Leoni to her own devices, she may invite them to a slumber party.”

They didn't get it. People liked Leoni - even soldiers could provide answers and clues to what was happening. And Leoni loved horses - she was excellent with them. If she were still home she would be participating in the Daughters competition. Five girls from each region of Nyota Heri selected to compete in events ranging from marksmanship, agility, and horse riding. All the women she admired had competed before, and the process was grueling. But here she was, pretending she never had combat training because of Ravkan biases.

“Let us help your comrade," Nina called out. "My Zemeni friend knows horses."

After imitating a soft nicker, they let her approach. Then she whispered in Western Zemeni,  _ harshe _ . One that they wouldn’t understand. 

“You are far from home and scared,” she said. “But I trust you. Do you trust me?” The horse was now paying attention to her more than the girl dangerously hanging. “You are so kind, and wonderful. In Nyota Heri we would feed you fruit and sugar. You would run wild and free. You want that too? Like me? Free from trappings?” She inched closer and then switched to Ravkan. “I need a rope.” She maintained eye contact with the horse, a smile on her face.

It was like being in a trance. Slow movements, making sure the horse knew she was safe. Secure. After that it was easy work making sure the girl was released, and drawing the horse away. She saw Adrik in the background, with an impressed look on his face. Leoni grinned at him.

But when Nina began to chastise the girls, she adopted a more wifely demeanor, going close to Adrik. He stood slightly in front of her, and Leoni felt bad for the girls as he berated them too, but it was necessary. 

She collected samples from the river and closer to town with Adrik. They were mostly quiet, until Adrik cleared his throat. 

"That was really impressive back there," he said. "Where did you learn horses?"

"Growing up. While Novyi Zem was industrializing, we still used horses to get around, and there are lots of horse conventions and people who travel from up North to show them off. I loved them."

"You saved her life, you know."

"I hope she is well." Leoni swished around the water in the canteens. She felt the pull of something angry. Something bitter. 

The next day, Adrik and Nina set out to bury Matthias. Leoni felt a great sense of relief as the shroud-wrapped corpse went into the countryside where she would no longer need to maintain it. Adrik had been concerned about leaving her but she waved it off. 

Leoni set up her poison workspace, making the best of what she had. She added another lens to her  _ bahandi _ glasses so she could see the water and its particles even better. It had a dark gray cast, not at all the clear fresh water Fjerda was famous for. It ran down from glaciers and mountains, and was sought after across the country. But this? She gently touched a bit of it just to get a feel. There was something - something she couldn’t sus out. 

She tirelessly pulled apart the compounds in the water, fascinated by each discovery. Pollutants, run-off. Metals and the hint of something organic. She put them in separate Petri dishes to examine later. The world blurred around her, tunnel vision focused completely on the process. 

Every so often she felt woozy, but that wasn't uncommon when she was focused. And, she was worried about Adrik. She was worried about Nina too, but Nina was burying her dead beloved. The weather was turning foul, from what she saw outside the window. Did he have shelter? Was the _drüskelle_ in the ground?

She couldn't sleep knowing they were out there, so she pushed through the night and her exhaustion. 

Finally, when dawn broke, she grabbed some of her kit and went downstairs to eat breakfast. Lack of sleep left her sluggish as she grabbed bread and her morning water ration. She observed the springmaidens as best as she could, the outline of their blue dresses fuzzy.

At one point the Wellmother appeared, hunched next to a soldier. Leoni observed carefully and listened. One of the girls was dead. Something about a leg injury.

_Sleep when they're back. Make sure they survived the storm,_ she thought. Leoni set up discreetly back in the stables, where she could keep an eye on the entrance. _I need to sleep. Why won't I just go to bed?_ They were soldiers too. They would survive. Probably.

She kept thinking about Adrik, kept going back to his face. How he offered to go even when he didn't want to. Because he was a commanding officer. She could admire that sense of duty and dedication. It was rare, even in the intelligence field. 

When the door opened, she saw him first. His ash blonde hair was framed by morning light, and he looked as tired as she felt. Nina looked calm. More than Leoni had ever seen before. Relief flooded through her - maybe with this act of letting go, they could focus on the mission at hand without derailment. 

"I thought you'd be back sooner," she smiled.  _ Has breathing always been this difficult? _ She swallowed thickly, brows knitting together. 

"Nina decided to have an adventure," Adrik answered.

Leoni wanted to roll her eyes at the predictability. But he seemed no worse for the wear. "A good one?"

"An informative one," the other girl responded. "How long have you been at this?"

Leoni couldn't remember when she started. In fact, she was having a hard time thinking of anything. "All night." 

Words were happening and she stood up. But then the world kept moving around her and she collapsed. She was vaguely aware of hands helping. Adrik's face was close to hers. And she heard him mutter under his breath. "Wish I had my fucking arm."

"That was unexpected," she managed to say. Her eyes fluttered open but the lids felt heavy. 

Adrik's skin felt cool to her and she focused on his blurry face over her, intense and worried. He was careful to make sure her hair didn't get caught on anything as he checked over her. If her skin was unrelenting fire, his hand was a cool breeze. Maybe he was making a cool breeze. She couldn't tell.

"This is no time to be in a good mood. Your pulse is racing and you're burning up."

"I'm not dead though," she said with a small smile. 

"Stop looking on the bright side and tell me when this started."

So bossy. It reminded her of a dockmaster back in Ol'Umoyana. A dip in Zemeni waters sounded lovely. When was the last time she swam freely? “I think I botched the testing. I was trying to pull the pollutants from the samples, isolate them. I may have absorbed some into my body. I told you poisons are tricky work.” She tried to sit up and immediately gave up.

Leoni insisted on staying there - they couldn't blow their cover if the springmaidens found out. She felt like she was ten years old again, accidentally drinking poisoned water. Her own stupidity putting people in danger. Killing a woman with a family. She wouldn't let that happen again. She wouldn't endanger Nina and Adrik.

"Thank you," she managed to say as Nina lay her down by the sledge. She felt hot again, so now she was sure Adrik had been circulating cool air by her. "There's a tincture of charcoal in my kit. Add a few drops, it will absorb the toxins."

She sighed with relief when the cool air started circling again, after Adrik brought the charcoal and dropped it in the water. She smiled wearily at him. “There’s something else,” she started. Leoni told them about the girl who had died, that she had met the previous day. They were both sombered by the news, but there was nothing more they can do. Leoni wished she had suspected the poison, and could have pulled it out. 

Leoni had to keep from rolling her eyes when Nina mentioned the wolf bite. Of course. Never a dull moment with this trio. Went out to bury a body, and encountered a wolf. Adrik seemed to think so too. 

“One soldier poisoned, one attacked by wolves. This mission is going swimmingly,” he groaned. Leoni would have laughed if she had the energy.

She focused on breathing, bits and pieces of their conversation filtering in. “It wasn’t parem, I don’t think. There’s something corrosive in the water.” Adrik helped her drink more, and she was grateful. “I haven’t isolated it yet.”

More troubling was Nina’s admission that the dead were speaking to her. But they would deal with it later. In the meantime, she rested in the stable until Nina and Adrik were able to carry her to the room.


	6. Adrik

Adrik couldn't sleep. His cot was alright, he'd slept on worst. But he couldn't stop worrying. Leoni could have died today, all because Nina got lost in a storm for a foolhardy mission. The hours ticked by and he fidgeted, thinking about Leoni's shallow breathing and sallow skin. So different from her everyday radiant skin and excitable demeanor. She would have been added to the list of ghosts in his head.

He finally gave up, quietly getting out of bed. Adrik tiptoed and lowered the pressure in the air as he walked over to the room they were staying in. Surprisingly, the door was unlocked. He stepped in, keeping his eyes down in case anyone was indecent. 

Leoni was under the covers, the moonlight soft. He looked around and saw that Nina was gone. Rage started in his chest and spread to his very fingertip. Breathing in and out, he stood by Leoni and gently touched her shoulder. 

Her skin wasn't hot anymore, and he marveled again at how soft it was. Unlike in Elling her hair wasn't wrapped, but he knew she did every time she went to bed. Instead the long twists were spread on her pillow like lengthy brush strokes. 

"Leoni," he whispered. She stirred and he waited for recognition. His heart beat a strange pattern when her eyes cleared and she smiled. "Sorry to wake you."

"Are you okay?" She asked, sitting up on her elbows. 

"I'm the one who should be asking that. How do you feel?"

"Better. Not perfect but better." She looked at the other side of the bed and touched it. "Cold. Where's Nina?"

"I was hoping you knew."

She shook her head, and Adrik was struck by how normal she looked. If they were regular people, if they weren't soldiers and spies, this could be life. As if someone like Leoni could want that with someone like him.  _ It's wrong to think of your soldier like that, _ he scolded himself. Even as he studied the contrast of her pale ivory shift against her deep skin.

"I felt her get out of bed, but I was asleep."

"Understandable. You almost died." He smiled at her, and she grinned back. 

"Maybe she went for a midnight constitutional."

"Always the bright side. You're our  _ solnyshko. _ " He immediately blushed when the word escaped his lips. And he was thankful for the cover of night. If she thought anything of it, she didn't say. "I think she went to the factory."

"Maybe." She shrugged. "If so, there's nothing we can do about it." Leoni threw off the cover and moved over. "Sit down, Adrik."

"That's improper."

"As friends."

He didn't stand a chance against her shy smile, and sat down next to her on the bed, leaning against the headboard. She crossed her legs and leaned up against him. Adrik became acutely aware of his missing arm with her head on his shoulder, but it was also comforting. 

"I'm worried," he confessed.

"About Nina?"

"Not that. About what will happen. What we will find, and if she can stop ignoring orders. Something is very wrong here." His heart rattled against his chest every time she moved slightly. He couldn't remember the last time someone was tender around him. "I want to find it without putting the Hringsa network at risk."

"How long do you think until the ship is useable again?"

"Not for several months. Ravka simply doesn't have those resources at hand. And no one cares about Grisha like we do."

She was very quiet and still, and he became worried. "Did you know Zowa are respected in Novyi Zem?" She replied. "Not just Ravka, Adrik."

"I didn't know that." He paused. "I'm sorry." 

"It's okay," she said. "But now you know better. You should visit someday."

"What's it like?"

"Beautiful. Big. Novyi Zem is narrow, but runs the same length as Shu Han to Fjerda. There are deserts in the north. Lush jungles. An entire ancient city made of fabrikated stone. My favorite is the port city of Ol'Umoyana. You call it Shriftport."

"That name is completely different. Where did Shriftport come from?"

"I honestly don't know."

Adrik considered that. But before he could apologize, she asked him about Nadia. So he answered and then Leoni asked more. The night whittled away and their conversation was easy. His chest felt lighter, and when the sun touched the horizon, he snuck back to the stables. The barrier between them had broken down, and he was terrified. 

He was in a dreamless sleep when there was a sudden commotion in the stables. A springmaiden threw open the door, her blue eyes suspicious. "Where have you been?"

Adrik schooled his face into a neutral position. Maybe someone saw him going in and out of Leoni's room. Thought he was being untoward. "I've been here all night."

She examined his space and boots before shooting him another dirty look and rushing out of the stables. Soldiers rushed in, looking at all the horses and chattering amongst themselves about the factory.  _ What the fuck did Nina do now? _ he thought. The tension that relaxed from those hours in Leoni's presence was back, and worse than ever. 

He stewed in silence before making his way to breakfast. The Wellmother approached him, looking as angry as he felt. 

"Mr. Murray," she began. "I trust you and your wife have been having a pleasant stay?"

"Of course," he answered. "Your convent has been most welcoming. My wife and I thank you."

"Well I would appreciate if you speak with Enke Janderstadt. She assisted a novitiate in unseemly activities and I would hate to ask you to leave." 

Adrik fumed. "Of course, Wellmother. I know Enke Janderstadt was simply trying to help the girl." Probably the Hedjut girl she was trailing when she wasn't shooting all his orders to hell. "My wife and I only want to associate with morally upstanding Fjerdans, such as yourself."

She nodded, smiling at his flattery. "Of course. Losing a husband young will give women unusual ideas. I must say I had doubts about you two given your wife's homeland, but you have been exemplary."

"I'm sorry? What about her homeland?"

"Well you know," the Wellmother shrugged. "They don't have the same values. But she seems quite respectable."

Adrik had no idea how to respond. Leoni was the kindest person he knew, with stronger morals and sense of righteousness than any Ravkan or Fjerdan. But she left, and he had to figure out his feelings alone, walking up to Leoni's room.

She opened the door, a very blank but pleasant expression on her face. Adrik was about to ask how she was when he saw Nina. 

Storming up to her, he pointed in her face. "You may not have any sense of self-presentation, but how dare you endanger the rest of us and the Hringsa."

"Adrik," Leoni said. She gently put her hand on top of his. "Not here." She lightly squeezed, distracting him from Nina's unapologetic face. Their hands dropped and lingered briefly before Leoni let go and turned to her desk, where her kit was tucked away. She grabbed some pamphlets out. "We should go sell some more."

_ Thank the Saints one of them has some sense, _ he thought. He let Leoni take the lead, ushering them out and back to their sledge with the rifles. It was much more refreshing without the body looming over everything. 

Adrik watched as Leoni moved, as she shook off any of her own emotions and transformed into a vibrant saleswoman. They sold a couple, but most of the town had been propositioned already. It was small. 

As Leoni was affectionate with him, leaning into her role as his wife in a patriarchal society, he wondered if she was just that good. Or if she felt anything he did. It was getting more difficult, and he remembered Nina's words. That she could tell Leoni had feelings for him. But Nina also seemed to lack good judgment these days. 

When they finally found an abandoned tanning shed, he was able to lay into Nina. He felt miserable, and tried to suppress the anger. 

"What were you thinking? I gave you direct orders. You were not to engage, certainly not on your own. What if you’d been captured?”

"I wasn't."

_ Why can't she just admit she did something wrong? Ever? _ Apologies and acknowledgement seemed to be a foreign concept to her.  _ Why was she even approved for this mission? _

Then Leoni, the only one Nina seemed to actually like. “If Hanne hadn’t stepped in to help, you would have been. Now you’re in that girl’s debt.”

“I was already in her debt. And have you forgotten she’s Grisha? She won’t talk. Not unless she wants to put herself in danger.” Nina was delusional. Her time with the  _ drüskelle _ clearly addled her brain. Fjerdan loyalty to their oppressive regime was legendary. And this girl didn't show any sign of working with them.

"We should destroy this place. It would be a mercy," Adrik said, a deep frown out.

"No. There has to be a way to get the girls out."

Why couldn't Nina get it through her thick skull? "You know what parem does. They won't come back from this, they're as good as dead." It was terrible to say out loud, but she wasn't listening to reason. She was listening to the dead - not the hundreds of living Grisha being hunted down. 

"Stop being such a head cold. I came back from it."

A head cold? Not her commanding officer who had been in this war since she was hiding in Keramzin? "From  _ one _ dose. You're telling us these girls have been dosed for months." He tried not to yell. Partly so they weren't drawing attention, and partly so Leoni didn't see him lose control. 

“Not with ordinary parem. The Fjerdans are trying something new, something different. It’s why Leoni got sick but didn’t get a real reaction. It’s why my own addiction didn’t get triggered again.” 

“Nina—” he started, then she grabbed his arm. Revulsion flooded him.  _ How dare she be insubordinate? How dare she grab my arm? _ It took away physical agency. Ever since he was amputated, having his arm grabbed without permission raised his hackles. She had no idea how out of line she was right now. 

“The Second Army knows more now than we did when I took parem, Adrik. They’ve made progress on an antidote. It’s possible the Fabrikators and Healers at the Little Palace could help them."

He tossed her hand aside. “Do you understand what you’ve done, Nina? Even if they decided last night was nothing more than a bit of miscommunication, they’re going to increase security in that factory. They may report the breach to their superiors. We need to leave this town while we still can, or we risk compromising the entire Hringsa network and any chance Ravka has of acting on the information you learned. You didn’t even get a sample of the drug they’ve developed.”

She couldn't even understand that - couldn't get out of her own head long enough. First it was the body. And the docks in Elling. Now this. They continued to argue, the two of them refusing to see eye to eye.  _ This shouldn't even be an argument. I'm a Commanding Officer. Not her friend. _

Seeming to realize he wasn't going to budge, she turned to Leoni. "Leoni, if it were you up there or someone you loved…"

"Leoni," he started. "We have a mission. We can't compromise it."

But then she told them both to be quiet. He acquiesced and watched her. There was a beauty in how unbothered she was. The sun on her face made her look even more angelic. Even its rays wanted to caress her. Nina fidgeted, wringing her hands. But he only felt captivated. 

When she finally spoke, it was serene with the lilt of her Zemeni accent. “I told you I almost died as a child, but I never told you it was from drinking poisoned well water. The zowa healer who helped me perished in order to save my life. She died pulling the poison from my body.” 

This was the first time he heard any details about her childhood. What was she like? Who did she live with? Why was her well poisoned? But her eyes opened, big and impossibly dark brown. So different from the blues and greens common in Ravka. 

“Like I told you, poisons are tricky work. So now I wear two jewels.” He had always wondered about them - the ones she made sure were woven in her twists every day, part of her morning ritual in Elling. “Topaz for strength, for my mother who gave me life and raised me to be a fighter. Amethyst for Aditi Hilli, the Fabrikator who returned my life to me when I was careless and might have lost it.” 

“Hilli?” He asked. “You were related?”

“No. I took her family name, and I swore I would honor her sacrifice, that I would make something of the life she gave to me.” That didn't make much sense to him. Was her family okay with this? It would be tough to send a daughter to Ravka, and then to the unknown. She never mentioned them. “If we’re not here for the girls on that ward, then what are we doing here?”

Well. The walls were closing in on him. "You know this is my command. We don't put things to a vote." But if Leoni thought they should, maybe there was merit to it. 

Her face split open in an unabashed smile, and he involuntarily sucked his teeth. It was like staring at the sun herself, the warmth of the sky, the brilliance of a summer day. 

“I know. But I also know you fought beside Alina Starkov. You got your arm torn off by a shadow demon and kept fighting. You didn’t come to this country to play it safe, Adrik.” 

He could only smile back at her, afraid of what he would say if he opened his mouth. Uncomfortable from the wanting in his chest. She knew his story. Knew who he was. 

Nina threw herself onto Leoni in Nina fashion, and he reckoned with the fact it was going to happen. Nina trot ahead and Leoni fell in step with him. "You two are impossible. And guilty of insubordination."

Leoni's radiant smile was now mischievous, rolling in her lips to keep from grinning. "We're splendid and you know it." When Nina turned to look at the mountain, Leoni dropped a quick kiss on his cheek


	7. Leoni

Everything felt wrong to Leoni. This entire operation. She sat in her room while Nina was at dinner with the enemy of Zowa everywhere - Jarl Brum. She wrote a long and detailed letter to her handler about the situation, worried if the worst happened. But she couldn't let those women suffer any longer. Their babies. The coded letter ended up being several pages.

Adrik knocked on the door and she hurriedly tucked it away. She felt her heart beat fast, unsure of it was nearly being caught, or the kindness in his eyes.

Nina always said he was grumpy and dreary, but Leoni didn't believe that. He was sweet and straightforward. And oh-so-very Ravkan. 

"How are you feeling? Still our  _ solnyshko? _ "

"Always," she teased. But that interrogation by Jarl Brum had put a stone in the bottom of her stomach. He’d sat and asked them questions for the better part of an hour before letting them be. Leoni could feel his disdain for her people rolling off in waves. "I've been separating blasting powders and other chemicals we may need. The jurda sedative is prepared as well."

"Wonderful. Nina has already left with Hanne?" 

She nodded. Discovering Hanne’s father was none other than Jarl Brum was so bizarre, Leoni had immediately started laughing. Of course Nina, who carried around the corpse of a  _ drüskelle _ for over 2 months, would immediately be drawn to the daughter of Jarl Brum, one of the most vicious murderers in the East.

"It's just us," she said. "You should take the evening off."

He grimaced and for a moment she was worried. He scratched his chin and looked a bit sick. "I was actually wondering. We have some extra money from rifle sales. Would you like to go out and find an edible dinner?"

"That sounds wonderful. It  _ is _ customary to treat your wife to dinner every so often."

"Then I have been remiss." He held out a hand to her and she accepted it. 

Gäfvalle wasn't a large city, but they managed to find a small restaurant attached to the hotel. It was busy but they squeezed into a small corner where Adrik took her coat and pulled her chair out with a foot. 

“So coordinated,” she teased. “Thank you.”

The food they ordered wasn’t great, but it was better than the dry and predictable food at the convent. Fjerdans in general weren’t very fond of spices and flavor. “I’ll have to cook for you someday, Adrik,” she said as they ate their elk. 

“At least it’s not fish. It’s sad because the river is poisoned, but I’m tired of things with fins,” Adrik commented. “What food do you like to cook most?”

Leoni pondered this. “Goat curry. It’s really wonderful, especially during a cool evening. And coconut mango juice.”

Adrik seemed to consider this. “I have no idea what a mango is.”

“You don’t know what a mango is? It's this amazing fruit that grows on trees. It’s big and full of flesh and juice, but there’s a giant hard pit in the middle so you have to scrape at it with your teeth to get it all off. It's quite a process, but a delicious one.”

Adrik laughed. It was a real, hearty laugh. She liked the way his cheeks turned pink under pale cheeks, and his hair had grown out a little, with soft waves curling by his ears. “I’ll try one, if you’re offering to cook Zemeni food for me.”

“It means you’d have to come to Novyi Zem,” she said.

He leaned forward, propping his head up as he looked at her. “Is that a promise?”

Heat flushed through her cheeks, and she was grateful for her dark skin at that moment. “I hope so.” 

She was about to tell him some more about her home when she saw a man in the corner, looking directly at her. He was dressed in typical Fjerdan fashion and had pale skin and flaxen hair, but instead of the typical low brow and straight tresses, he had the wide set nose and full lips of home, and underneath his hood she saw textured hair cropped close. He was in his early to mid thirties, with broad shoulders.

"Excuse me, I'll be right back. I need to use the lavatory," she said, standing up. 

He nodded and she quickly moved towards the women's room, then making sure Adrik wasn't looking, took a turn towards the back exit. She waited a few moments until the man followed her out.

"We can't speak long," she said. "My supposed husband is inside. I can’t be seen talking with another man unsupervised."

He pulled his hood down and she smiled, reaching up to give him a hug. “Good to see you Chuku.”

Chuku let out a deep chuckle. “It’s been awhile. Last I saw, you were a twig trying to catch poison frogs.”

“Successfully, I might add.”

Chuku had been a part of the rigorous intelligence training. He had coached her on body language and subconscious behaviors. Being albino had made him a valuable asset - if he tailored himself slightly, he could pass as someone from Ravka, Fjerda, or Kerch. He must have left his face unaltered so she would recognize him. “We heard what happened in Elling. Are you okay?”

“Yes, thanks to the commanding officer.”

“The one-armed man mooning over you inside?”

“Hardly. But he’s a powerful  _ ‘moylilo _ . If not for him, our third would have gotten us killed.”

“Nina Zenik, according to your records. Turning her into Fjerda would go far in Zemeni-Fjerdan relations. But then we would have to have relations with Fjerda.” Chuku grimaced. “Are you safe? Do we need to do an extraction?”

“No. We're headed to the factory, and I need to see it through." She looked towards the door. "I have to go. What name are you using?"

"Haakon. You?"

"Leoni."

She embraced him one more time before running back in. 

Adrik was still there, poking his food, and she felt a stab of guilt. She was using him. Using Nina, to commit treason against the Ravkan throne in the name of her own country. But he was doing the same, in Fjerda. When she sat down next to him, the smile on his face made her forget her troubles. 

"They've got music playing," he commented. The hotel was full of travelers instead of the frigid Fjerdans, and someone burst out a fiddle, sawing Kaelish tunes on a warped bow. "Would you like to dance?"

Her mouth dropped open. "You dance?"

"On special occasions. I had to learn for Nadia and Tamar's wedding." 

Leoni peeked and saw there were a couple women dancing as well, so she nodded. They stayed on the outskirts away from the crowd and he suddenly seemed awkward. He looked his age - 20, unsure, and worried. So she stepped forward and clasped his hand, putting her other on his shoulder.

She was average height in Novyi Zem but tall in the East- there wasn't a difference between her and Adrik. It meant they fit well against each other and she was acutely aware of every detail of his face. 

His face and features were typical of Ravka. Ash blonde hair instead of the platinum of Fjerda. Hooded green eyes. But he had freckles that were darkest across his nose and lighter throughout his cheeks. His mouth was wide and he had thin lips with a surprisingly delicate arch in the middle. The angles and lines of his features were the opposite of hers. He had a prominent and eagle-shaped nose where hers was wide and round. 

But he spun her and they danced. He was slightly off balance but only when he leaned to the side without an arm. It was fun, and when the fast jig turned into a lilting ballad, he put his hand on her waist. 

Leoni wanted to close the distance between them. As husband and wife it wouldn't be a big deal - they were tourists and already questionable. But the reminder of what she was there for stopped her.  _ You can't. You can't. You can't. He would kill you if he knew who you really were, _ she reminded herself. 

But his face was flushed and handsome, so she let herself be a happy girl until they stumbled back to the convent, high on the good energy between them. 

“Thank you Adrik,” she whispered, trying not to draw the ire of any springmaidens.

His brow was furrowed, his face in its serious neutral position. “Thank you, Leoni.” There was an edge to his voice, so earnest, she wished it was her real name. “I can’t remember the last time I felt like that. The last time I had fun.” 

They stood in silence and he took a small step forward. A chill went up her arms, and she couldn’t tell if it was the late fall night or the way he was looking at her. She didn’t step back when he clasped a gentle hand around the back of her neck. 

The space between them was too small, too intimate. Too wonderful.

Adrik leaned forward, and the stable doors slammed open. Leoni leapt back and Adrik straightened himself out. A couple of soldiers were tying their horses up, chatting loudly in Fjerdan. They were complaining about the fact that they had to take extra shifts - and Leoni wished she could tell Adrik what they were saying. But she wasn’t supposed to know Fjerdan, so she kept quiet. Her heart was pounding. “I’m going to go to bed,” she managed to whisper. Adrik nodded, looking down at the ground.

She was wrapping her hair for the evening and going through her skin routine when Nina came in. And Leoni was grateful for the chatty girl, distracting her from her thoughts of Adrik. She laughed as Nina hugged her and regaled her story at Jarl Brum’s home. Nina rarely asked Leoni about herself, but that worked. It was what she needed. 

When they woke up and went to the tanning shed with Adrij, she looked for any trace of their shared moment. He was back to his everyday self, somber and intense. But she still smiled at him. 

"Is Nina with Hanne?" he questioned.

She nodded. "The emetic and tonic should be working. I might have made it a bit strong."

"And convincing." He paused. "If Hanne’s a Corporalki, she would do well training in Ravka. She's strong and young."

Leoni had to bite her tongue. After all, they thought she was like Hanne. Arriving in Ravka to learn the "proper" way to use her powers. She looked over her portable kit, making sure the explosives were safe and secured.

"I'm sorry," he suddenly said. "Last night. I was out of line."

"You might be sorry, but I'm not," she said. “We can talk about it tomorrow.”

“We might die.”

“Then you have nothing to worry about,” she said with a smile. “At the very least we’ll go out spectacularly. Maybe I can add some colorful powders to the explosives. You would look lovely in sky blue.”

“But if it mixes with my insides it’ll be purple.”

“Great, the  _ fabrikator _ colors. This is how we get our revenge.”

“After Alina Starkov, it hasn’t been so bad for fabrikators,” Adrik insisted. “At least I hope it wasn’t for you.”

"I loved it. People from all over the world. Learning from David Kostyk. And new languages. A lot of people." This part was true. But it had also been four years now since she’d been home. "But I hope I don't die without seeing another Zemeni late afternoon."

Adrik moved closer to her. "Why late afternoon?" His hand was close to hers. "Most people like sunrises or sunsets."

"Well. In the summertime on the city coast, it's when the heat breaks. There's an old city wall where we meet. Everyone comes outside and talk and dance and play games. It was like having a big party. Food and laughter." He linked his pinky with hers, and she tried to contain her smile. "What was your favorite time of day?"

"Evening at the Little Palace. In the late fall. It started to snow but it wasn't freezing. And they gave us the first hot chocolate." He had a sad look on his face. 

_ That was before Alina, _ she realized.  _ While he was still innocent. _ "That sounds nice. I just remember spending time in the  _ banyas _ and trying to keep my hair from getting dry." For the mission her hair was turned into a giant braid behind her neck, with a thin scarf tied to keep it off her face. 

When Hanne arrived, she’d been transformed into someone new: Hans. Leoni had to admit the novitiate did a good job tailoring her face.

"You should have made the lips smaller," Adrik commented in Zemeni. "But we need to move." 

Nina translated, but left out the first comment. She coached Hanne in the corner while Leoni helped Adrik into the military uniform. 

He noticeably shifted his eyes away from her, and Leoni didn't push it, as she held the pants for him to step into and buttoned up the jacket as efficiently as possible, making sure he was comfortable. They stuffed the sleeve and she fastened it to his pocket. 

"I can do this on my own," he whispered to her. "It just takes longer."

"I know."

"But thank you."

She felt like a fraud dressed as a Springmaiden, sitting beside Nina in the back of their stolen wagon. It was important the guards didn't see too much of Leoni, who was noticeably Zemeni. Nina squeezed her hand, and she was grateful for the comfort. 

They got through the checkpoint without too much incident, but it was slow and Leoni was acutely aware of the passing of time. Once inside, she finally pulled the industrial strength acid out of her travel kit and destroyed the locks on the door. 

She wasn't prepared. 

The horrors of war were foreign to Leoni - Nyota Heri was safe. Was prosperous. This violence, women forcibly impregnated and drugged, begging her for more. She had to dry her eyes and keep her stomach down. Her hands shook when Adrik lit the room and she fetched her sedative.

Leoni worked quickly but also took time to smooth their damp foreheads and whisper low platitudes in Fjerdan, hoping no one overheard. She stacked the bombs while Adrik led the girls out, and she glanced at the serious set of his profile when the world went quiet. 

The pressure in her ears was almost unbearable but she pushed through. She began laying explosives when she heard a muffled click of a gun. She let out a shriek before covering her mouth, standing with her hands up.

"I knew you couldn't trust Zemenis," Jarl Brum said. "Especially the women. You are all temptresses determined to lead men of good faith astray."

She was getting really tired of this Fjerdan bullshit. His voice sounded like he was talking far away, but the way his scalp was pieced together horrifically, she suspected auditory damage. 

“Who sent you?” He demanded. “You will give me answers or I will bleed them out of you.”

_ He sounds like a man who never shuts up, _ she thought. "You disgust me," she said. She hoped someone was coming. That someone was nearby. Or maybe this was how she’d die. By a bigot, with the ugliest face she's ever seen, without giving Adrik a thorough kiss.

“I don’t speak your ugly tongue,” he said. “And I know you understand more than you pretend to.” As if Fjerdan wasn't comprised of some of the strangest sounds in existence. 

But he had no idea how right he was. She understood him perfectly. And that made her smile, her lips spread wide against dark skin. “And you understand less than you will ever know.” 

“I knew you weren’t just traders. Where is your compatriot? And what about the guide, Mila Jandersdat? Does she know you’re spies?”

“You’re so very bald,” she continued. But curious. He was fixated on Mila. The perfect innocent Fjerdan widow to her allegedly slutty Zemeni. Couldn't be further from the truth. “That won’t be the worst thing Mila Jandersdat does to you.” 

“Was she a part of this?” Brum growled in frustration. 

“How many girls?” She said, pretending to speak weak Fjerdan. She saw Hanne approaching. The girl needed to hear her father say this.. “How many did you hurt?” 

“Those aren’t women,” Brum sneered. “They’re Grisha, and I’ll be happy to give you your first dose myself. The might of Fjerda is about to descend on you.”

She had to stop herself from gagging. Fjerdans and their superiority complex. As if Zemenis weren't just as advanced as them, without the genocide and murder and overwhelming patriarchy. He reached for the lever but then crumpled onto the ground just as Nina yelled, and Hanne stepped out. 

"He knew. Papa, how could you?"

Leoni had no time for her tears. Over a man who held a pistol aimed at her heart, who left those girls nearly dead and addicts.

“We need to go,” Leoni said, wanting to wrap up Nina and Hanne's moment. “If we don’t light the first fuse soon, the bombs won’t go off in time. Assuming they go off at all.”

“So Commander Brum did  _ not _ leave town?” Adrik asked, as he raised the air pressure back to normal. Leoni let out a giant yawn to pop her ears. She ran out with Adrik to make sure the girls were in the carriage and comfortable, checking their pulses. She noticed the corpses of soldiers ripped apart by the entrance. 

"Are you okay?" Adrik asked her.

"I'm fine, other than looking at Brum's face." She had been terrified. But there wasn't much else to do, they could talk later.

Then it started. The dead crawling, shambling, making their way to the open door. All women. Infants. Answering the perverted call of Nina Zenik, the stench overwhelming. One of the babies in the wagon began to cry and Leoni picked them up, gently rocking even as tears streamed down her own face. There were screams inside. 

Adrik was tense, waiting for Hanne and Nina to get into the wagon. Then Nina finally arrived and they hurried away.

“Remind me to never make you mad, Zenik,” she said over the rattling of the cart wheels. 

“Just don’t do it by a graveyard.”

Leoni had hope, but then the bells began.


	8. Adrik

Adrik felt like a caged animal when they were stopped by security. He couldn't see a way out from the rifles pointed at them, but he subconsciously tried to move in front of Leoni. 

But it was useless as the man went to the wagon and opened the door. "Djel in all his glory. Seize the drivers!"

The baby Leoni was holding let out a long, haunting wail. It turned his spine into ice and he looked back at her face. Unsmiling but still devastatingly beautiful. The girl from Novyi Zem, several thousand miles from home, under his command. 

Nina was crying for help from the nearby townspeople, Leoni frantically trying to help the infants that began crying harder. He was pulled from the wagon with Hanne, guns pointed at him.

The townspeople rallied around them, looking at the girls in horror. Adrik couldn't imagine how he would react. If it was Nadia back there with bloodshot hazy eyes, pregnant or holding an infant, after thinking she was dead. 

Adrik was intimate with death. An entire generation of Grisha. The men his age, lost to war. Of friends, and fellow soldiers as he rose through the ranks. Grisha who went to Fjerda to work the Hringsa, and simply disappeared. 

But this was a death of the spirit. These women were stripped of their personhood and choices. He couldn't imagine Nadia like that. And neither could the townspeople. 

In the chaos, he realized he hadn't heard any of the explosions. The hair on the back of his neck stood, and then there was the first explosion. Nina and Leoni clambered out, Leoni gently placing the baby near its mother. 

"That sounded a lot bigger than it was supposed to," Leoni grimaced.

Adrik saw the horror on Leoni's eyes. And guilt. Adrik knew Leoni didn't make mistakes. But then there were more explosions, and a thunderous crack followed by the crumble of the dam. He looked in horror as the full force of Djel's poisoned might rushed towards them. 

Leoni was next to him. Her mouth agape, brows knitted. 

A man jumped in the wagon to hold the infants. 

And Leoni was yelling. In Fjerdan. “Move!” she screamed. “That water is loaded with poison! Anyone it touches is done for.”

"Get behind me! Now!" Leoni was in a fighting stance next to him. Perfectly matched, her hair undone in the chaos. She understood what had to happen. Mission be damned. "Leoni. Can you do it?"

"Yes, _Shtabofitser_ _._ " She kissed the jewels in her hand, watching the water tumble down the mountain. Under her breath, she continued. "Mama, Baba. Aditi. To everyone who's name I don't know. The ones I have yet to learn. And my own."

The massive wave crashed and crested. "Get ready!" He told her.

Adjusting his balance, he sent the winds straight through. The water parted enough to bypass them, the sun streaming through. He saw the glint of Leoni's jewels as she raised her own hands in a circular motion, and then up. The chemical stench of the poison overwhelmed him, and sweat beaded on her forehead as she became nearly invisible, surrounded by it.

He prayed to the Saints for the first time in years.  _ Let this water pass us quickly. She is breathing it in. _

The moment the water was done he whipped around, sending the poison into a gust of wind and then the empty guardhouse. 

He closed the distance and caught her, using the wind to slow her fall. He held her as tightly as he could, feeling her shallow breath against his neck. "Leoni, hold on," he whispered. He fought the tears in his eyes. She leaned heavily on him, wrapping an arm around his waist. Her skin was ashen and her other hand was massaging her stomach.

There were guns pointed at him and he pulled her as close as he could, desperately looking for an out. Maybe if he threw her on the ground and covered her. But then they were distracted, pointing. He looked over and saw a beautiful horror. 

A perversion of their religious symbol, the tree of Djel of bones. The bones of their sisters and lovers and daughters. The girls of Fjerda twisted into a tribute to their oppressive god. Adrik's eyes were red and wild, animalistic as he sheltered a barely-breathing Leoni.

"Lay down your arms, we have seen miracles today."

He barely noticed Nina when she dropped to her knees. "Praise Djel! And praise the new Saints."

Everything erupted. He fed off the Fjerdans, as Leoni stumbled near the wagon, her hands frantically moving from her abdomen up to her throat. 

"Please _solnyshko,_ _"_ he begged her. "Please."

There was a horrible retching and he quickly grabbed her by her shoulder as she began to violently vomit. Yellow-green sludge came out of her mouth, smelling exactly like the chemicals from the water. He winced as she seemed to empty a year's worth of contents. Her skin was ashen and he finally realized she had been condensing the poison in her stomach to expel it. 

When she was heaving air he helped her to the wagon, where a fisherman agreed to help them get to the port. Leoni's breathing was uneasy and he wiped her mouth with her sleeve, before gently brushing his thumb across her forehead. One of the men brought him water. 

"Thank you," Adrik mumbled. He wet her lips.

"Praise Djel. Praise the new Saints," the man trembled before running off. 

He rolled his eyes and turned to the fisherman. "Anything happens to her," he said, "I'll kill you."

Leoni wheezed with every breath but the Corporalki was nowhere to be found. He went to look for Hanne.

He stopped when he heard Nina talking to her. He listened to the girls talk and rage built inside him. Nina did this on purpose. Leoni didn't make mistakes. But at every turn, Nina was putting them in danger. Everyone. She was willing to put a price on Leoni's head and start a war, if it meant getting her way. 

The King would hear about this. For her recklessness and refusal to obey orders, Adrik was going to recommend she be demoted to the Little Palace minimum, dishonorably discharged if he got his way. But for now he played nice.

“No more lies?” he asked Nina.

“Eavesdropping, Adrik? Is Leoni in the wagon? Is she all right?” 

Adrik couldn't believe the gall. The cavalier way she treated a fellow soldier's life. “She is. No thanks to you. Leoni didn’t make a mistake with the fuses. You caused that accident. You rigged those explosions to blow the dam. You put me and Leoni and countless innocent civilians at risk.” 

Leoni. In the wagon, only alive thanks to her own quick thinking. Nina yapped about Ketterdam. Like he gave a single fuck about Ketterdam when there were hundreds of Grisha lives at stake. And her little stunt meant the hunts by  _ drüskelle _ were only going to intensify. She was acting short-sighted, or maybe just stupid. 

"They’re already whispering your name here, just as they whisper Sankta Alina’s name. I guarantee that tomorrow there will be shrines dedicated to you all along this road.” She raised a brow. “You might not like what they’re calling you, though.”

_You were at Keramzin,_ he thought. _Or you would know Alina never wanted to be a Saint._ “I don’t like any of this." But information was power. “Tell me.” 

“Sankta Leoni of the Waters.” She paused. “And Sankt Adrik the Uneven.” 

Adrik rolled his eyes. “We need to go, Nina. Time is short.” 

As if disobeying orders wasn't bad enough, she confessed to finding a plot to assassinate the Tsar.  _ Might as well add treason to the list. Why not. _

But then she was determined to stay. And he was so tired of arguing with her. Of fighting with her. Of trying to show her Leoni's life mattered just as much as Fjerdans. 

Adrik still felt obligated to warn her. “We’ll have no way to reach you there. You’ll be without allies, without resources. If things go wrong, you won’t have any way out.”

* * *

He sat in the back of the wagon with the women, cradling Leoni's head in his lap. She was still making a horrific wheezing sound when she breathed and he summoned small breaths in and out, worried she wasn't receiving enough oxygen. 

Adrik occasionally told the fisherman where they were headed, and what to watch out for. He found the serum in Leoni's pack and administered it to the women, as they made quick time towards the port. 

"I can't believe you," he chuckled under his breath. "You know I don't have the constitution for this." He grabbed some more water and wet her lips. They moved slightly, but there was no indication if she was listening. 

"Leoni. You know I haven't missed my arm at all since I lost it. Maybe a little. But when we were dancing I wished I had two to hold you with. That's it."

He moved some cool air around her face and neck. "Please come back so we can finish that dance."

Adrik spent hours cradling her, only moving to help one of the other women or hold their babies. They had fastened little _moderskapsförpackning_ with girls from the convent before taking off. He stopped by each box, making sure they were safe. He put his pinky in the sedative and let them each have a microdose. 

It had been almost a day when Leoni finally opened her eyes completely. 

"Ad-" she whispered hoarsely before her chest seized and she started coughing violently. He helped her breathe again. Her eyes were shiny and she whimpered, clutching at her throat. She looked at him just as a tear rolled down. 

"You said there was something corrosive in the water," he said softly. "It hurt your throat when you threw it up. Didn't it?"

She nodded, her face laced with pain. Her color was slowly coming back, but still sallow, and her lips chapped. Leoni tried to sit up but spasmed, tears rolling down her face. He shifted so that he was sitting behind her, a leg on either side. Leoni lay her head on his chest.

He tried to hum and whisper nonsense to her, rocking gently. Sometimes her eyes fluttered open and he saw the hint of a smile but most of the time, if she was awake, she whimpered in pain. But she refused the sedative, pointing at the women.

Adrik didn't know when he fell asleep, but when he woke up, Leoni had crawled over to the babies, holding one of them. A pile of discarded nappies were shoved into the corner, and she was panting hard. She had taken off her top layers and her undershirt was drenched with sweat.

"Leoni, I would have helped you," he said. "Please rest." 

She looked terrible but shook her head, the infant tucked on her shoulder. The wagon smelled, and Adrik was acutely aware of his own hair slick against his forehead, and dirty shirt. He was still in the Fjerdan military fatigues. 

The wagon slowed to a halt as he went to Leoni, keeping her upright. "What's happening?" He called out to the driver. 

"Checkpoint."

Adrik cursed. Leoni pointed to her rucksack insistently. He dug through it, and found the last thing he expected. A pair of beautiful Zemeni revolvers. He knew dual wielding revolvers was a common practice, but Leoni had trained in Ravka. They were personalized with a beautiful constellation pattern. He also saw a small kit and a bunch of letters. He remembered the one that she burned in Elling. For another time. He took one of the revolvers and gave the other to Leoni. 

Her face was set in determination, even as she swayed on her feet.

"Are we there yet?" One of the women moaned. "Do you have my dose?"

"In a few moments," he said. 

The wagon came to a halt.

"Who goes there?"

"Transporting some people to the hospital," the fisherman said. Just as he was instructed. Leoni was breathing shallowly, trying to contain her wheezing. 

"We need to inspect."

Adrik cocked the revolver, and Leoni leaned against the wall, taking aim. Her bottom lip trembled, but she was steady. She knew how to shoot guns, Adrik was sure of it. 

When the door opened, Adrik was expecting a horde of soldiers. But it was one. He looked like such a typical Fjerdan, his face was unremarkable. A straight angular nose, pale skin, shorn hair, a low brow, with nearly invisible eyebrows, and thin lips. It was a textbook definition.

He took in the scene relatively well. Something was off. Adrik began to aim, until the soldier's eyes landed on Leoni.

"No," the man let out breathlessly, before leaping into the wagon with a single bound. "What happened to you?"

Leoni looked frightened, but understanding crept onto her face. What was happening? He aimed the gun at the soldiers head. Leoni tried to speak, but a wretched rasp came out.

"What did you do to her?!" The soldier yelled.

Adrik was confused but he decided guns be damned. He dropped the revolver, grateful it didn't go off, and thrust his hand forward to reach for the air in his lungs.

But he lost focus, as the man stuck out his own hand. His heart beat slowed. 

"Gr… grisha…" he wheezed. The man picked up Leoni just as Adrik fell onto the wagon floor.


	9. Adrik

Adrik came to in a strange room. The bed was stiff but not uncomfortable, and the air was warm. Much too warm for a Fjerdan home in Winter.

It took a moment to remember everything. The checkpoint. Leoni being carried away.  _ Leoni. Leoni. Leoni. _ Weak in his arms, then up and holding a revolver. 

He sat up, slipping into soldier mode. The room was plain, and very small. It fit a small bed and a lantern. There were two narrow windows near the ceiling but unreachable. He stood up and tried the door. Locked. He moved the air around the room, looking for weak spots in the ventilation. 

Adrik focused on remembering everything he could. His clothes were different - he was wearing a plain undershirt and pants just a bit too big. Someone had pinned the sleeve closed. 

His face didn't feel grimy either. Whoever was holding him hostage wanted him in good condition. But he was barefoot. And there was no trace of Leoni. 

"Where is my companion?" He asked in Fjerdan, Ravkan, and Zemeni. He was met with silence. 

It felt like hours when there was a knock at the door. "Adrik Zhabin, field officer of the Ravkan army."

"Who are you?" He stood back up so quickly, he stumbled. At the door he banged on it "Where's Leoni?!"

"None of your concern. But she's being tended to by Corporalki."

A flood of relief went through him. Leoni was being attended to. This person was speaking Ravkan to him, but he couldn't place the accent. There was something slightly off. 

"Are you Second Army?" 

The voice on the other side began to laugh. "Never. We will let you out to speak, but if you so much as twitch your hand, your heart will stop."

"Agreed."

There was the sound of heavy locks sliding, and finally it opened. Adrik stared as he saw the Fjerdan from earlier, flanked by two Zemenis, each with a revolver pointed at him. 

"Where's Leoni?" He asked again. A quick scan of the room didn't reveal her. "Where are the women we were traveling with?"

"They are safe. Safer than if you had cared for them." 

The Fjerdan touched his face and it began to shift. He was tailoring himself. The mouth became fuller, the brows rose, and the nose widened. Adrik had never seen a man like this. His skin was alabaster - lighter than Adrik. But his features looked Zemeni. 

"Take him to the interrogation room."

"I'm not going anywhere until I see Leoni."

The pale man looked at him with obvious contempt, but then shrugged. "Fine. Allow him to see her. But he cannot touch her or he'll lose his other hand."

Adrik wanted to throttle him. But as Zoya once said, that requires two hands. 

He was escorted down a hallway, and he realized everyone there was Zemeni. The building was brightly colored and painted. 

_ This is an embassy, _ he suddenly realized. The flag was positioned. There were Grisha guard everywhere, all of them looking at him with suspicion. 

They showed him into a small room. It also had windows close to the ceiling but there were much more, and there were lamp posts of the newest technology, all illuminating Leoni on a soft bed. 

She looked like a Ravkan fairy tale, asleep in the light. A healer with light brown skin was moving her hands up Leoni's sternum.

"Why isn't she awake?" He asked the healer. 

The woman didn't even look at him. "We have put her in a coma to slow her deterioration. She was in sepsis and would have died in a day or two. We are working on her internal organs first."

"She ingested a lot of poison," he said. His voice cracked and hot tears filled his eyes. This was a disaster he wasn't equipped to handle. _Why did I insist I was ready to be an officer?_ "The river near Gäfvalle. Some sort of jurda synthetic."

The woman nodded. "We are doing our best. Now please let me focus."

The soldiers dragged him away to another plain room with a table and cuffs on it. They tied his hand face down so he couldn't summon, but if they were treating Leoni well, then he was going to trust them for now. 

"Why were you running from Gäfvalle?" The Zemeni-faced white-skinned man asked. 

"To save those women."

"Not because you flooded it?"

"That wasn't us. That was someone else."

"Nina Zenik."

Adrik went cold. This man knew too much. "Please tell me who you are," he begged. "Why are you holding me here?"

Finally there was compassion in his pale blue eyes. "You are here because Leoni wouldn't leave without you. And made us promise to keep you safe."

"What does she have to do with this?"

"She's a Zemeni national. We take care of our own." He turned to the silent guards. "Let him have access to the public areas." He turned back to Adrik. "If you try  _ anything _ , you will never see her again. It will be like she never existed."

Adrik believed them.

* * * 

With freedom to move around, and feeling as if he was being eaten from the inside, he decided to explore. 

He tried to find his way back to the medical ward where Leoni was, but was sent away. He wandered into a library. It was full of Zemeni classic literature. Adrik found a collection of fables and read them, trying to imagine young Leoni listening to these. Did she sit on her mother's lap and learn about the great sea snake of lakes, while he was learning about the sea whip?

Adrik took the book with him when he was summoned for meal time.

The soup was the best thing he ate in months. Meat and heavily seasoned, with vegetables mixed in. He had to stop himself licking the bowl. 

Evening came and went, and he slept, and he started the day again. He found a washroom with a mechanism to pour hot water over his head and bathe, and a fresh set of clothes. But people didn't talk to him. The looks weren't hostile, but curious. 

The healer he saw before approached him. She looked haggard but had the glow that came with using Grisha power. "Mr. Zhabin. Leoni asked for you."

She took him back to the room. Leoni was sitting up, color finally returning to her face. He wanted to rush her. To hold her. A day or two from death, to save those girls. Because Nina broke the dam. And he was angry all over again. 

"Adrik," she said. Her voice was hoarse. But she was speaking. "Sit."

He remembered that night together. Where they stayed up talking. So he sat down, smiling when she scoot over so he could lay next to her. She put her head on his shoulder and relief flooded him. Leoni was going to be okay. 

"I was so scared," he confessed. 

"I was too." She reached for his hand. He never realized how long and elegant her fingers were, against his own rough hand and wide palm."I still am."

"Why? Is something wrong?"

"No. Yes." She looked down. "You're a good man Adrik Zhabin." Her eyes filled with tears. 

"What's wrong  _ solnyshko? _ " His heart drummed up a terrible beat. 

"I want to remember you looking at me like this," she whispered. Then she breathed deeply. "Leoni Hilli isn't real. I'm not a Ravkan soldier. Not really. I've been Zemeni counterintelligence for four years."

"Wait." He didn't understand, dropping her hand and standing up. "You've been in Ravka for years."

"I started young. Like you." She wouldn't look him in the eyes. "I can't keep doing this. They saved me because they knew where I was. Tell the Tsar I'm a traitor. They can put a price on my head, but at least you can go home. I'll be away in Nyota Heri, and you won't have to think of me again." 

"No. No, no, no," he said. "I would have figured it out." The revolvers. The letters. The way she shouted in Fjerdan in Gäfvalle. Wonderful Leoni, who danced with him and was his wife for a time. Who was the most beautiful woman he ever knew.

A cold hearted spy? Who committed treason of the highest order? Even Nikolai would sentence her to death. She would be hanging from a beam or shot against the wall and there was nothing Adrik could do about that. 

"I need to go," he said. She didn't try to stop him.

His chest was fracturing and he didn't understand it. Why would someone like her genuinely fall for him? Why was he stupid enough to believe it? Leoni with her startling dark brown eyes and even skin. With full lips that looked like plump berries. If he took the smallest bite they would burst. And a smile that outshone the sun.

He was a Ravkan soldier. A partial man, who bore the scars of an ugly war. Where his sister looked elegant, his features were severe. Leoni was the person who distracted him from the list of dead Grisha that scrolled through his head. And all he had wanted was to hold her against him.

In his room, he threw his head back against the wall and wept.


	10. Leoni

Chuku entered the room after Adrik left. "You did the right thing," he said. He put a hand on her shoulder. 

Typically, the right thing didn't feel so horrible for Leoni. The way Adrik looked - She had delivered a blow he might not recover from. The day or two in the wagon was a blur of pain. She knew the moment she lifted the poison out of the water she was going to die. But she would  _ not _ fail.

Adrik had held her. Cleaned her face, fed her water. And now he thought she didn't care about him at all. Leoni felt hollow inside. "How are the girls?" She asked. 

"They're being treated and stabilized. We will set course for Ol'Umoyana when they are strong enough, to cure them. We don't trust the antidote to leave Zemeni shores."

She nodded. The secret to a parem antidote being unlocked - it felt surreal. While Ravka was trying their hardest, her homeland was decades ahead thanks to prosperity and technology. It was foolish for Eastern countries to think they would find a cure before the people who spent millenia cultivating the jurda plant.

"And Os Alta?" She asked. 

"The Tsar is engaged to a Shu princess. Our informant in the Little Palace revealed that plans for underwater boats were sold to the Kerch, who may be behind recent terror attacks in Ol'Umoyana and the oil mines up North. Ravka is no longer a trusted ally."

Leoni suspected as much. Ravka had long since put their allyship with Zemenis on the back burner. She witnessed it herself at the Little Palace. They were so centered on Ravka, they disregarded everyone around them. 

But she thought about Adrik. He thought he was doing the right thing. And he had been a child soldier, thrown into that devastating war against a fascist. He thought Ravka needed soldiers to survive. It was how he survived so far. 

Chuku sensed her mood. "Leoni, it's best to let him go. You got too close. It happens to many people. You entered Ravka at 17. It's natural to feel attached. Just remember they steal zowa away and indoctrinate them."

Leoni nodded, unconvinced. She felt miserable. Chuku was right - Ravka was still an imperial power that showed no sign of moving out of Nyota Heri. The stolen lands were still labeled the Southern Colonies instead of being rightfully returned to indigenous Zemenis. The Tsar was more concerned with bolstering Grisha numbers than the Suli girls who went missing every year.

The  _ umphulukisi _ came back in and helped her, massaging her chest, stomach, back, and neck. The familiar itch of zowa magic as she tried to fix the devastating effects of the poison. Her insides felt like gravel - she was drinking water and some lukewarm liquids but she wasn’t able to eat yet. She finally was around Zemeni food and now she couldn’t even have it. The irony.

She was debriefed on the political situation while different  _ umphulukisis _ came in, checking her muscle elasticity. During the worst of the poisoning she had seized, and everything still hurt. They gave her jurda tinctures as well to keep her alert. 

Chuku came to help Leoni walk. He supported her as she took baby steps out of the room. “Can you take me to the girls?” she asked. 

Leoni’s breathing was ragged by the time she made it to the ward. 

The difference in the women was already visible. They had intravenous needles in their arms that gave them saline and mild jurda stimulant, and their babies were in beautiful little cribs, wrapped in Zemeni blankets. They were gaining weight, and there were older  _ umphulukisis _ minding them. They were no longer in the grips of addiction like before, a few talking amongst each other.

“They look good,” she commented. “Thank you. They’re faring better than they would have in Ravka.”

“Thanks to your work, we were able to intercept that wagon.” Chuku helped her sit next to one of the babies. Despite her weakness, she picked them up, enjoying the soft and sweet weight. She sniffed the head, letting the infant comfort her the same way she comforted them. 

“Ravka cannot request your extradition, since they refuse to give Nina Zenik to Fjerda. We have a better relationship with Fjerda than Ravka does. But it is still best for you to get onto a ship back home before we let Adrik Zhabin go.” 

“With Ravka’s flying ships, they can capture me if they would like,” she said miserably. 

“We have our own ways to fight back. We don’t make war machines like the tsar.” It was true. Zemenis excelled in espionage, and had for generations. The contempt Eastern countries had for Nyota Heri meant that they were largely unbothered. “But we don’t have a generation of young people wiped out by senseless wars and bigotry either.”

When she felt too weak to hold the baby, Chuku walked her to her room. 

"Can you give Adrik permission to visit?" She asked hopefully 

"You're making it harder on yourself."

"I know."

But he was sympathetic. “I will.”

Despite her hopes, and the slow healing process, it was several days before she saw him. She was finally able to walk on her own, and eat soft food without throwing it back up. Leoni was determined to get back to full health. 

The cafeteria was a lovely room with wooden tables and benches, and food available to the different intelligence operatives and ambassadors that came through. She settled on a thick curry soup and mango juice. She was dressed simply - a large scarf secured tight around her chest and linen pants. Her twists had stray curls escaping, but she had no energy to redo them.

She was willing herself to pick up the bowl to eat her soup, when Adrik sat across from her. “You’re up,” he commented. The distrust in his eyes hurt her. 

“I am.” 

She studied his face as he looked her up and down. “You’ve lost a lot of weight.” He frowned. “Are you okay?”

Leoni shrugged. “I will be.” She looked at him. “You look wonderful.” She meant it. He looked healthy and handsome. Stressed, but physically well. His hair had been cut, and he had simple Zemeni fatigues. 

“Thank you.” 

The silence stretched between them was unbearable. She missed the way they were comfortable before. “Will you eat with me?” she asked. 

He didn’t respond. She managed to lift the bowl up and slowly sip, but it still was difficult. "Have they been treating you well, Adrik?"

"It would be a great vacation if I was allowed to leave," he commented. "Food. Softest bed in months. Clean clothes and this hot water system in the washroom."

"It’s standard in Zemeni cities," she commented. "They saw how _inlilo_ were able to heat up water as it moved through makeshift pipes, and it was engineered. The water is collected after it's used, and recycled for things like irrigating farms. During extreme droughts in the North, _bahandi_ like me can clean the water and it is drinkable."

"And this is normal?"

She nodded. "The higher quality of living for Zemenis, the more peace and prosperity. It was one of the earliest decrees by the Council of Elders after the treaty with Ravka." She was proud of it. Ravka had torn away the southern part of the continent, and the Council vowed to never let Zemenis be taken away from their land again. They hadn’t been prepared for Ravka at the time, but now guns were embedded in Zemeni culture, and their technology surpassed everyone in the East.

“There’s no kings?”

Leoni shook her head. “Just a Council of Elders, from every area. There used to be separate tribes of people who self-governed, but lack of communication meant that we lost against Ravka. Now that won’t happen again.”

Adrik considered this. “You think Ravka was the bad guy?”

“They cut off Zemenis from their own land, Adrik. Nikolai even sent his parents to live there, who helped colonized it.” Leoni had eavesdropped on older agents when they found out - especially considering the crimes the King and Queen had committed. 

He propped his head up with his arm and fell silent, staring past her to the wall. She forced herself to eat some more, stopping when the pain became unbearable. 

“What’s that?” he asked, pointing towards her collarbone. “Did someone hurt you?”

Ravka was a cold place, and she normally was dressed head to toe in a  _ kefta, _ or buried in furs for Fjerda. She had never shown this much skin around him. Thin scars lined her collarbones in a series of geometric patterns and curves. One of her fingers traced part of it. 

“No. It’s called scarification,” she said. “For intelligence officers. If something happens to us, they can identify where we are from, who we are, and where our records are located. Even if our faces are tailored or unrecognizable.” She looked down. “For dangerous missions.”

"Did it hurt?"

"A little."

Silence. Then he cleared his throat. "You should eat more." He opened his mouth but then closed it, and her heart broke a little more. "Goodbye," he muttered, and left the table. 

Leoni had a couple more sips before giving up. She wandered to the workshop instead, where  _ bahandi _ and  _ nabaluki _ were creating the next generation of technological marvels to help Zowa in Fjerda. She couldn't craft anything, but she sat and watched people. They worked on lightweight armor to wear under furs, silencers for pistols, and sleeping draughts. 

Chuku finally found her dozing off in the corner and carried her to her room, despite her protests. 

"If you want to work, you can make us documents," he scolded. Leoni felt like she was being reprimanded by her father. "We need new ones for you, our plant in Os Alta, the Fjerdan girls, and the Ravkan."

"What are you doing with him?" She asked. 

"We will hold him until we know you are safe, then allow him to go back to Ravka, with new papers to pass Fjerdan security. We aren't heartless, Leoni."

"But he knows about us. It could cause an international incident."

"Like I said before, they can't without being hypocritical about Zenik, and we already know they have sold our alliance to gain money from the Kerch. We could have done a loan from the Zemeni gold reserves but they decided on this route. And we aren't sure yet who is responsible for the attacks on our land."

Some people brought materials for Leoni, and she began her meticulous work, frustrated by the loss of her  _ bahandi _ glasses. They had been abandoned back in Gäfvalle, and custom made for her head and hair. Now she had to operate with a table magnifying glass, which required her to move the clunky thing around.

But she passed her days working, and in therapy, wondering where Adrik was and how he was doing. She saw glimpses of him; a flash of straight blonde hair or his distinct gait. But if he noticed her, there was no indication. 

Leoni was doing strength building exercises with sandbags when Chuku finally came to see her again. 

"We need you for a meeting. There's been a development."

She walked into a room where the others were gathered. A _moylilo_ was also there with a large basin and soaps, and indicated for Leoni to sit down. That meant it was going to be long. 

"Good to see you healing," the woman in front said. 

"Only thanks to the _umphulukisi_ , " Leoni replied. The _‘moylilo_ was also the hairdresser and began to cut mid-way through her twists, unraveling the extensions that had protected her hair from the harsh Fjerdan environment. Leoni couldn’t remember the last time someone else had done her hair, and the memory of home pricked behind her eyes.

Chuku walked to the wall where a giant map of the world lay, and circled Os Alta. “We have more information about the plot to usurp Lantsov. Fjerdans are marching under a Lantsov banner, with the support of the Tsar’s true father Magnus Opjer. Coupled with the Shu assassination attempt, this is an opportune time. Ravka already risked its relationship with us by selling the plans for their underwater ships. 

“We have a connection in Fjerda, who is friends with both Brum and Opjer. He is chatty but knows me to be a Fjerdan political merchant. We think if he makes a new friend with similar interests, we will be able to gain more information and access.”

“Where do I come in?” Leoni asked, as trails of hair extensions were dropped into a pile next to her chair. Her head already felt significantly lighter.

Chuku looked at the general up front. She sighed. “He has an interest in… what he considers to be exotic. Exotic foods, culture. Women.” The general shrugged. “He has never met you, and you have a pretty face.”

Leoni frowned. This was not new to her - many men in the East felt that way. She encountered it herself in the Little Palace. Invasive questions and leering looks. She learned how to brush it off, and to focus on her studies and her mission. To dive into work and prove herself.

"Unfortunately we don't have any other albino operatives we can spare right now to pose as your husband," Chuku continued. 

"Maybe a widow?" She asked. The Zowa summoned water around her curly hair and began to wash it. "Your sister?"

Chuku shook his head. "How much do you trust Zhabin?"

Her eyes widened.


	11. Adrik

Adrik felt sort of bad. After all, he had managed to completely lose the reins on his command and was currently captured by a foreign nation when he knew there was an attempt on the Tsar.

But it was kind of nice. 

Despite his uselessness, the people were kind. He spent time in the library, and they even allowed him into the Zowa training facilities. He tried to find ways to contact Ravka, or anyone in the Hringsa network, but the codebreakers dropped his letters back off with the revealed message.

So he minded his business and moped about Leoni. He missed her. He worried about her. Every time he closed his eyes, he had nightmares about how she’d almost died. He couldn't tell if it was better or worse than the volcra nightmares. Adrik knew what happened - They took his arm. And he always went down fighting. 

But with Leoni he watched helplessly as she ingested poison. Nina forcing it down while they drowned in poisoned waters. The pain in Leoni’s eyes while she reached for him. 

Despite the fact that she had been using him, and he had misinterpreted her actions and affection, he wanted to be around her. 

So of course he did the opposite. 

He always felt her presence when they were in the same room. She took all the air out of the room, was impossible to ignore. It left him reeling. So instead he kept as busy as he could. 

He was doing balance exercises on beams in the exercise room when a boy not much younger than him came in. He had light brown skin and wavy curls. “General Nnedi and Agent Chuku would like to see you Mr. Zhabin.”

Adrik heaved a great sigh and leapt down, following him. The boy was already a few inches taller - which seemed to be the case with many Zemeni. For Ravka, Leoni was tall. But here, Adrik saw she was quite average. But Leoni was far from an average person. 

“Welcome, Mr. Zhabin,” the woman he assumed was the General said. He gave a nod, his eyes falling right onto Leoni. There was a Tidemaker behind her, making sudsy water go in and out of her curls. There was a pile of more hair beside her and Adrik was confused. She was having her hair washed? At a meeting with powerful military figures? 

But even then, Leoni was beautiful. He sat at the empty chair, and the boy exited the room. 

“I trust your stay has been well?” General Nnedi asked. 

Adrik nodded, trying not to look at Leoni. Her large eyes were staring right at him. It was too intense. He looked away. 

"We have a proposition for you," they started. 

"Does it involve me being able to go home?" He asked. 

"It involves you gaining access to Fjerda's inner circle and their plans against Nikolai Lantsov. In exchange for your silence regarding Agent Leoni until she is back in Nyota Heri."

"I'm sorry. Nyota Heri?"

"The real name of Novyi Zem," Leoni piped up. Her voice was throatier than before but much better than the last time he heard it. The water was gone from her hair and the Tidemaker was taking a comb to it. "Novyi Zem is the Ravkan term."

"What kind of information? Why is it worth my silence on treason against the crown?"

"Opjer and Brum are the cogs behind Fjerdan politics and warfare. This man, Imre Olson, is a friend of theirs. He is a powerful merchant with a flair for what he considers exotic. We would like you to pose as a border merchant."

Adrik blinked. "Why would he talk at all to me?"

"You will pretend to share his interests. And you will appear well acquainted with foreign cultures because your wife will be Madsi Koelbeck. Whom you know as Leoni."

It was his dream and nightmare come to life. "So I'm going to be Mr. Madsi Koelbeck?" 

Leoni giggled, and Adrik was absurdly proud. 

"Also known as Arne. We have papers and a backstory ready to go. Our priority is gaining information about Fjerda's dealings in Nyota Heri, and you can learn about their intentions with Ravka. Chuku will be your point of contact in the city, and we will ensure you are safe. His Fjerdan name is Lukas. When Leoni has safely landed in Ol'Umoyana, we will escort you to Os Alta."

Adrik glanced at her again. "What if I say no?"

"Business as usual, but we keep you here as a bargaining tool with Ravka. And you'll never see her again."

"I'm a Squaller with one arm. You overestimate my worth to the Tsar." He chuckled sardonically. His sister would mourn, but Tamar would help her through it. 

Leoni's lip shook and then she spoke up, in a language Adrik couldn't recognize. He sat awkwardly as they conversed, anger written on faces. Instead he focused on the Tidemaker who was now running oils through Leoni's hair. Instead of long twists, they were now a beautiful halo around her head of tiny spirals the width of a pen. They bounced with each shake of her head as the Tidemaker removed some of the liquid to help dry it. 

"Mr. Zhabin. Leoni brought up a good point. We don't want to become like the Ravkans. She has requested that we stay any decision on your fate until the mission is over."

Adrik gave Leoni one last look. "Fine I'll do it."

If Adrik thought he would get a chance to speak to Leoni alone, he was wrong. He was immediately taken in to a fitting. When every part of his body had been measured, they pushed him along to debrief him on his fictional background. 

It was straightforward. He was an up and coming fishing merchant with shady ties, ready to climb up politically. Chuku had already established the existence of this - But the current situation meant they couldn't bring their preferred operative. 

"You're wanted at the workroom next, Mr. Zhabin." 

He was lead into a Fabrikator workroom that rivaled the Little Palace. He saw Leoni again in a simple scarf wrap top and loose pants that cinched at the ankles. None of the other women in the casual Zemeni outfit made him feel the way she did. She was utterly perfect. 

When she looked up, she briskly walked over. "Adrik," she said.

"Leoni."

"I, uh, I had something made for you." She motioned for him to follow her to the table. "If you don't like it, it's fine. I had the idea in Elling."

They finally stopped at a table where there was a mechanical arm sitting on it. Grisha steel that David made was slick and utilitarian. 

The Zemeni arm was art.

He ran his finger over the material, which wasn't smooth like he expected but uneven, and gave slightly. "It’s an ultra fine cushion on top," she piped up. "The mechanics inside can be controlled by your shoulder movements, and air. If you send warm or cold air through certain chambers you can make it move around. It's a pressure system," she said. The arm was a dark gray-blue with silver piping. "Squaller colors."

Adrik had no idea what to say. "Can you put it on?" He asked. 

Leoni used the straps to secure it across his chest and showed him how to position the pulley around his shoulder. It fit snug, and he noticed it weighed like a regular arm. David's arm had been lightweight - not enough to restore Adrik's center of gravity. It had been a test of David's skill, not Adrik's needs. 

His balance already felt more centered and he immediately began to play around with the pressure and pulley. Leoni coached him a little but mostly watched with a smile as he played around.

"It’s not perfect," she said. "But if you tell me what you need, I can try."

"Leoni -"

"I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you so many times. But my loyalty is to Zemenis. I hope someday you can forgive me." Her eyes were wet. "But this is yours. No matter what."

He figured out enough already that he lowered the pressure in the fake arm to raise it, and he pulled her into a tight hug. Leoni's body melted against his. "I don't know what will happen. This has all been confusing and terrifying. But thank you."

"No. Thank you." She leaned back and gave him the dazzling smile that made his chest hurt. "Lets go ruin the lives of some Fjerdans."

* * *

The Zemenis had a fast turnaround. Three days later, Adrik was on the road. No longer dressed as a simple merchant, he was Arne. He had a winter coat with the thickest fur he'd ever seen, made out of an animal he'd never heard of. 

They were headed to Olson's winter home in Halmhemd. Leoni sat across from him in a spacious carriage made for winter weather. She was still leaner than he liked but recovering quickly.

Her hair was halfway pinned back and decorated with small golden clips and jewels. The wedding rings they picked out were on their hands. His was a simple white gold band. Hers looked like tree branches. 

"Thanks for marrying me again," he said. "Wait till Nadia finds out."

"Tamar would never have a second wedding. The first one she complained enough." Leoni did her best impression of Tamar. Admittedly, it wasn't very good. "  _ Naaaaaadia _ , what is this ridiculousness. The fun will be after anyway! Fabrikators! Make me some new axes, these are dull. I've been stress throwing!"

"Nadia and Tamar's wedding was our first one, you know." He motioned with his hand. "After everything. So no one would let them have a small one. It was fun. We danced, and Nadia was radiant."

Leoni smiled, and scoot closer to him. Despite the warmth, Adrik welcomed it. "And I'm sure you were handsome."

"Hardly."

"Well then explain this," Leoni said, gesturing to him. 

Adrik didn't know what to say so he tried to hide his smile by pulling out his forged papers. "This must be your handiwork. Flawless."

They arrived in Halmhemd and approached a gorgeous Fjerdan mansion. The wrought iron fence had deadly spikes on the top and Adrik felt he was arriving at a prison, not a home. He slipped into his new role and felt Leoni do the same, making sure that the glove was secured over his fake hand. 

When the carriage pulled to a stop, they let the servants open the door and Adrik stepped out first. Winter had well started in Fjerda and the cold bit at his face. He held a hand out to Leoni, who stepped out looking like the Queen herself. 

A skinny Fjerdan man with a full beard approached them, dressed like aristocracy. "Arne Koelbeck!" He then bowed. "Fru Koelbeck."

Leoni gave a demure curtsy. "Pleasure, Herre Olson." Her natural accent was thick like honey, and Adrik felt an absurd sting of jealousy. "Thank you for hosting us."

"Arne, Lukas mentioned your wife but didn't say how beautiful she was. You are a lucky man." 

For the first time ever, Adrik wished the man was a typical Fjerdan with conservative sensibilities. "I am."

Leoni grasped his arm and beamed at him, the force of her affection nearly knocking him off his feet. "Shall we head in?" Adrik asked, sounding grumpier than normal. 

The mansion was cold, only offset by a horrific amount of fur blankets and furniture, thick carpets, and roaring fires in every room. The walls were covered in paintings and new style photography of Imre in various places. The most obscene were photos with animals, dead. There was joy on the Fjerdan's face as he held up the antlers of carcass. 

"Such a shame about Novyi Zem," Imre began when he saw Adrik looking. "But now is not a time for politics. The servants will show you to your room."

He took Leoni's elbow and they followed the manservant, who lead them up the stairs to a room overlooking the winter garden. There were large windows and a balcony, and the biggest bed he had ever seen. It looked like a royal room at the Palace, not the soldier's barracks and stables he was used to. A fire was already going.

"Where is the passage to my bed?" Leoni asked. 

"Herre Olson is a modern man," the servant began. "He understands that in other countries, married people share beds."

"Give him our thanks," she said graciously. Adrik knew why she was able to fool him - she was simply a better spy. This didn't faze her at all. "My husband and I would like to rest."

When they were alone, Leoni threw off her layers. "I hate all these furs," she complained. Underneath she wore a simple dress, which she also took off and was in a slip. 

Adrik also stripped down to his pants and undershirt. The room was toasty. They began to strip the carpets as well, and looked behind paintings. There was at least one passage covered by a painting, and they suspected a couple holes for listening near the bed. The only safe place was the bath room, but it reverberated too much. 

Leoni put a revolver in the night stand and they tucked a rifle under the bed, and another revolver in the spacious closet. The entire time they talked about how tired they were from the journey and petty gossip they made up on the spot in Fjerdan.

Adrik sat on the edge of the bed when Leoni lay down. "I'm tired," she said in Zemeni. "How long until we put on more pretenses? I've never been among the wealthy."

Adrik wanted to say neither had he, but he had been surrounded by opulence at the Palace growing up. "They'll call us for dinner and show us around their gilded halls and then you will be sent away to chat with his wife while we talk politics and smoke cigars."

"I didn't know you smoked."

"Hate it."

Leoni laughed again, throwing her head back onto the pillow. "Lay down with me, husband." She motioned for him, and there was no resisting the smile on her face. He kicked off his shoes and lay down, testing out the fabrikated arm some more.

"Consider that our wedding gift," Leoni said, watching him experimentally flex the fingers.

"Way better than the axe Tamar would have given me. I can't throw axes. I'm off balance." Heat crept up his face when Leoni rolled over and put her arm around his waist. He put an arm around her shoulder and relished the feeling. "Nadia would get me something nice. What about your family?"

"They would make fun of you. And feed you. I don't know my real parents, but my adopted ones love me as if I was their blood daughter."

"What happened to your parents?" He asked. "If it's okay."

Leoni gave him a sad smile. "Ravka's border wars affected us too. As a part of what you call the Southern Colonies, Zowa were conscripted into the Second Army against their will, for a country and war they wanted no part in. They were killed in battle." She buried her head in his side. "I was smuggled to Ol'Umoyana to live with my auntie."

Adrik's heart pounded. "They brought Zemenis to fight from the colonies?"

Leoni nodded into his side. "I have a good family. Loving. I haven't seen them in five years but they gave me these jewels. You would love them. Thank you for letting me escape Ravka so I can see them again."

He had forgotten about the fact she was a double agent. That she would be on trial and sentenced to death if she returned to Ravka. And that he shouldn't trust her. Or feel things for her. But his heart was open to the Zemeni woman in his arms. That he wouldn't see again after this mission.

"Of course," he muttered into her hair. "I'm sorry about your parents."

"I didn't know them, not really. I'm sad they died for no reason and for a King that wasn't theirs. What about your parents?" She shifted her eyes up to look at his. 

"Nadia and I were border orphans too. We grew up close to Fjerda and we were taken to the Little Palace. Nadia took care of me, she was my mom longer than my own mother. The Ravkan countryside is bloated with graveyards. There aren't many men my age anymore. The Darkling threw bodies of boys at the enemies he made."

Leoni reached over him to put her fingers through his mechanical ones. "Lots of ghosts in Ravka." Adrik wished he could feel the touch of her finger tips. “Zemenis don’t fear ghosts. We welcome them. They become our amplifiers. I don’t have one yet - probably because I haven’t been home in so long. A proper Zemeni amplifier can only be obtained on our soil.”

“I’ve never heard of that,” he said, savoring the weight of her arm across him. “But I like that better than ghosts.” The neverending list of names in the back of his head. The other grisha who should have survived. 

They fell into a companionable silence. It was unusual - No sounds from the convent or stables. No Nina demanding all his concern. No idea what to expect but determined to find out more about the Fjerdan plot, and to enjoy having Leoni close while he could. 


	12. Leoni

Leoni disentangled herself from a sleeping Adrik. She hadn't meant to lay there so long, but it was easy. He snored lightly and his brow was furrowed. She pushed his hair to the side before standing up to get ready. 

It was already dark as midnight, even though she knew it was early evening. She lit candles all around the room. The mansion didn't have modern lighting yet. 

Leoni hated corsets, but the Fjerdans didn't like their women functioning, so she tied it loosely and slipped a conservative dress over it. The dresses weren't made for her Zemeni hips and backside, so she improvised with a large scarf and fixed it behind her, adding an interesting layer as well as modesty.

Satisfied with her outfit, she massaged oil into her hair just as Adrik was waking up. 

"What time is it,  _ solnyshko?  _ " he asked, rubbing his eyes. "Dinner soon?"

"Mmhmm." She held up two earrings. "Which one do I wear?"

He squinted. "Silver. I'll wear my jacket with silver piping."

She helped him with his jacket and he washed his face. Leoni was pleased at the way he kept looking at her neckline, and the swath of dark brown skin against the ivory lace. 

Their host was waiting for them in the sitting room. Leoni was revolted at the Zemeni animals heads posted on walls, their faces freakishly styled mid-roar. Adrik tightened his grip on her elbow, but his face remained passive. The curve of his nose and straight back commanded the entire room.

"Herr Koelbeck, Fru Koelbeck."

"Please call me Arne," Adrik said. 

"Likewise, call me Imre. And, you know my dear friend Lukas." Chuku was sitting in a corner with his Fjerdan face and gave a curt nod. Knowing he was there relaxed Leoni.

She sat near Imre's wife, a slender woman with light brown hair and startling blue eyes. Adrik sat forward with one ankle on his knee, chuckling at all the right parts, while Fru Olson jabbered on about the decorations in the room. Leoni was bored to tears.

She somehow faked and smiled her way through the conversation until they went to dinner, where the men talked about Fjerdan politics. Adrik was impressive in his command of politics and the workings of Djerholm. 

The food was tolerable, and she tried to eavesdrop on “Lukas”, “Arne”, and Imre. But they retired to the smoking lounge soon after, and Fru Olson took her on a tour of the mansion. Leoni made note of the different hallways they passed. The location of Imre’s study and den, and the library. She would need to explore sometime, when her hosts were asleep.

It didn’t take long for Fru Olson to plead exhaustion, and for Leoni to return to her room. She quickly freed herself from the corset and changed into soft shoes, Zemeni linen pants, and a soft long-sleeve shirt. 

Her  _ bahandi _ pickpocket kit were a couple metal bars of different thickness, that she could shape into whatever lock was available. First she went to the library, making sure that none of the servants were milling about. It was a standard library, full of all the books Olson was “supposed” to have and nothing of any personality. She quickly moved along to his office. She could hear the voices of the men talking down the hall, so she acted quick.

With the men in earshot, she had an exact location on Olson, and she went to work. The lock was tricky, but was nothing in the face of zowa powers. 

His office was austere. Everything was behind another lock, and Leoni was frustrated at her slow pace. The only illumination was from moonlight streaming through the large window. She sifted through documents, most having to do with his hobbies. He shipped art and "cultural artifacts" from all over the world. 

She memorized dates of interest, wishing she was a better codebreaker. Instead, she pulled out her notepad and wrote a couple observations. She was careful to put it all back the way she found it

Leoni was about to leave when a letter caught her eye. It was hidden between notebooks. She yanked it out and scanned it. 

Novyi Zem was in trouble.

There were voices in the hallway and she swore under her breath. 

Cracking open the door, she saw Adrik facing her, and Imre with his back towards her. The two were deep in conversation. Adrik saw her but quickly looked away, keeping the Fjerdan engaged in their talk. 

Her heart leaped in her chest as she closed the door. It hovered open and she gave Adrik a nod. She saw him tilt his head back and he let out a resounding sneeze just as she pushed the office door closed. She ran back on quiet feet.

Leoni waited on the bed after changing into her sleep dress. She was wrapping her hair in a silk scarf when Adrik walked in. He smelled like tobacco and honey mead. “Make sure you air out your jacket,” she said. “It smells good now, but it’ll stink tomorrow.”

“You think I smell good?” Adrik asked with a smile. Leoni just grinned, but he still opened the balcony window and moved wind around his jacket. “So what did you find?”

“Nothing good,” she replied. He took off his shirt and she quickly peeked at his torso before looking back into his eyes. “He’s involved in a lot of ships coming through Fjerdan and Kerch ports. I also found something worse.”

He shook off his trousers and Leoni scoot so she was facing away from him, giving him the privacy to put on his pyjamas. “It’s Ravka, there’s always something worse.”

“He had schematics for the Ravkan izmars’ya.”

“That’s impossible.”

“Our sources at the Little Palace said that Ravka sold the plans to the Kerch, but it’s here in a Fjerdan home. Something is wrong.”

She felt Adrik sit on the bed and she faced him once again. “That can’t be right. The tsar would never allow military plans to fall into Fjerdan hands.” His face was fallen. “Why would he sell plans to the Kerch when he has an alliance with Novyi Zem?” He closed his eyes. “Nyota Heri?”

Leoni watched as he searched her eyes. “The Zemenis have always been our allies on the sea since the peace treaty.” His shoulders sank. “There’s no way that can be true. That goes against Ravka's principles,” Adrik insisted.

She reached for his hand. "Does it go against Nikolai's principles?"

Adrik was silent for a long time. "Could you help me with my arm?"

She reached over and undid the straps. He took it off and hid it before laying down on the pillow. She reached out and touched his face. His eyes were clear and watched her intensely. "That can't be right. But you wouldn't lie."

"I would," she said plainly. "But not about this."

She lay down next to him. With the fire down to embers, the room was cold, so she pulled the thick blankets over them. Adrik shifted close to her and put an arm around her waist. "What are you looking at?" He asked. 

"I'm counting your freckles."

"I begged Genya to tailor them off when I was sixteen," he said with a smile.

"I'm glad she didn't."

Leoni buried her head in his chest and they fell asleep together in the cold Fjerdan night. 

* * *

Leoni woke up tangled in Adrik's limbs. Her back was to his chest and his arm thrown over, a leg pinned under his. It was freezing in the room and she had to build up the willpower to get out from under the covers.

She quickly ran to the bathroom, grateful that the Fjerdans had hot water plumbing as well. After her bath she used lotion, oiled her hair, put on a day dress, and started a fire.

Leoni found her way to the kitchen, where she prepared coffee for herself. The servants ignored her, despite her status as a guest. It was unsurprising, but it still stung. 

Holding her mug, she saw Imre head to the library. She waited a few moments before following him in, pretending to be mesmerized by the shelves. 

Her plot worked. 

"Fru Koelbeck, you're up early."

She curtsied. "I am a morning person." Leoni flashed her smile at him, even as her skin crawled. "And your home is beautiful. I could not resist."

"It’s been in my family for years, but fitted with modern technology." He stood uncomfortably close to her. "Not just Fjerdan. But from Ravka, Kerch, and even your home."

"Oh, that is so wonderful! I would love to see sometime."

"I can't resist that smile," he said, touching a finger under her chin. She tried not to show how disgusted she was. "Herr Koelbeck is a lucky man."

Leoni took a step back. "I really should be getting back to my husband," she said. "Thank you for having us."

He nodded, and she made an exit. She asked a servant for Adrik's coffee and then returned to the room, where he was starting to stir. "How early do you wake up?"

"Six, usually." 

"Saints, Leoni." He rubbed his eye and put on his arm, having an easier time than before. "We need to discuss what I learned last night too. Maybe we take a stroll or a sleigh ride."

The servant knocked and brought in a tray with a pot of coffee. She made Adrik his first, before one of her own. "We only have a couple days left before I'm set to return home. We need to act fast."

She touched up documents and wrote a letter to Chuku with invisible ink. She detailed the  _ izmars'ya _ being in Fjerdan hands and the potential ramifications. By the time she was finished, Adrik was ready to go to breakfast.

It was a bland spread of cured meats and bread, but it was filling. In a few days she would be able to eat all the fruit she could stand. Adrik piled his bread high with cheese and avoided the herring.

Their hosts were absent when they decided to walk into the greenhouse. The flowers were different from home. There were tulips and roses; a cold sort of beauty. They occasionally stopped and pretended to bend over, while whispering in Zemeni.

"According to Olson, they want to expand to Nov - Nyota Heri, and the countries of the Far West, including I'a Nui. He thinks my fake shipping company can help."

"The Kerch hold trade to the East. If they expand westward into our territory it could cause problems. Western Novyi Zem has good allies in the island nations. There's no telling what will happen. We will protect them if the worst comes."

"The  _ izmars'ya _ would never be used that way. Nikolai must have a plan. Ravka is in a time of peace and not in the business of warmongering. We want to strengthen that peace."

"  _ You _ want to strengthen that peace, Adrik. You cannot speak for your king and country."

"Either way," Adrik continued, fidgeting. "We need to stop this from happening too."

Leoni saw the slightest movement out of the corner of her eye. Adrik looked distressed, not at all like the arrogant lord he was pretending to be. Her mind went blank and she took Adrik by the back of his neck and pulled him into a kiss.

He jumped slightly but quickly pulled an arm around her. Their bodies were flush together, and Leoni was grateful they were the same height. A thrill of excitement went through her as he relaxed, tracing a tongue on her bottom lip. 

She heard someone clear their throat and she pulled away, gave a fake gasp, and put a hand on Adrik's chest. 

Imre stood with his arms crossed. "Sorry to break up your… intimate moment," the Fjerdan said. "But would you like a tour of our shipping facility? I am headed there." Imre looked at her. "And of course Fru Koelbeck should come with us. It's healthy to get some air, during the short days."

"Oh, but that would be improper," Adrik chimed in. "I know for most Fjerdans, they don't want wives in the workplace."

"Nonsense. They should see what we are doing for them. Time for Fru Koelbeck to see Fjerdan might." He raised his eyebrow. "But you may have shown her yours already, my good man."

Leoni wanted to punch him, and she never wanted to punch people. Adrik's arm was still around her waist and he pulled her tighter, tension in the corner of his eyes. "Very well." 

They made their way to Olson's carriage, which had been adapted for the wintertime weather. Adrik leaned in close to whisper. "Aren't you worried people will recognize you from your last time here?"

"No. With my hair and bearing different, they will think I'm a different Zemeni."

He nodded, and under their heavy coats, he linked his pinky with hers. Leoni glanced at his lips, thinking about the way he had kissed her back without hesitation. The featherlight touch of his tongue. 

Adrik caught her looking and gave her a small smile that broke up the severity of his face. It made her want to kiss him again. 

The shipping facility was gigantic. Fjerdan men kept their heads low and worked quickly, taking advantage of the short daylight hours. They were startled when Leoni stepped out with Adrik's help. The combination of her coloring and gender made her stand out, but she kept her chin high.

There were huge crates being moved in and out on wheeled contraptions anchored by pulleys. Fjerdan innovation rivaled Zemeni - But where Zemenis fused Zowa power and technology, Fjerdans were pure physics. Ravka was still largely dependent on its armies, only moving forward because of Nikolai.

She found the tour boring. Adrik had to pay attention to Olson, so she looked around and observed, ignoring hostile looks from the men. Leoni wished she had one of her revolvers.

There were armed guards walking around. She noticed they were concentrated on the Southern part of the building. Crates lined the wall, and she desperately wanted to check inside them. Instead, she had to listen to Olson talking about "productivity" and "moving product".

The sun was already racing towards the horizon when they stepped outside, where more crates were lined along the building. Leoni counted. _Less than inside,_ she noted. Hidden rooms. 

She was grateful Adrik was carrying the conversation as she scouted the facilities, counting and observing the workers. Adrik often linked his arm in hers. Not only did it make her feel better, but it also disguised the prosthetic. 

It was dark when they returned to Olson's mansion, Leoni pleading a headache and retiring to their room.

She immediately grabbed paper and lit extra candles, sketching everything she remembered about the shipping facility and writing details in the margins. She wished for her special glasses again, and was still hard at work when Adrik finally came back in hours later. 

Several sheets of paper showing different angles and details about the crates were piled around her. 

"We need to break in to that building," he said in Zemeni. 

"The dimensions didn't add up inside. He's hiding a lot. I feel it in my stomach."

"I trust your instincts," he said, and she beamed at him. Warmth spread from her belly. He trusted her, despite everything. And she became acutely aware that this was their first time alone since she kissed him. He looked over her shoulder. "Brilliant."

Leoni put down her work and scoot back. "I'm sorry I couldn't remember more."

"No, it's great." He motioned at the sofa in the room. "Do you want to sit over here?"

Leoni flopped down on the couch and immediately moved closer to Adrik. She didn't want to pretend anymore. Their time was too short. 

"Leoni - " he started.

She cut him off. "Nope." Placing her hands in her lap, she looked at the roaring fire. "After Gäfvalle, I thought I was going to die. It was like something had scratched my insides. But you helped me. I heard your voice. I want to finish that dance with you. You wanted two arms, but I didn't care. I still don't." She took a deep breath. 

"You had every reason to hate me and you don't. You make me feel wonderful and I love when you smile. I don't know what's going to happen next but I truly, deeply care about you, Adrik Zhabin. There’s nothing holding us together when this is through. I hope you know that."

He stared at her with those pale green eyes, before leaning forward to kiss her. It was gentle at first, asking permission. When she wrapped an arm around him, he pulled her in deeper.

His mechanical arm held her waist and his other hand slipped behind her neck, burying into the soft curls at her nape. Adrik was electric against her, and she vaguely wondered if he was causing static in the air. But it was quickly forgotten when their lips parted.

"I've wanted to do that so long," he whispered. "It’s like staring into the sun. It might hurt in the end, Leoni, but it's so worth it. We can steal the time we have."

She placed her hands on either side of his face. He grasped one, gently kissing the palm. "I don't know what's right anymore,  _ solnyshko _ . I love my country. I work for the Second Army. But I've seen things that are wrong." Adrik let go of her hand and gripped her leg. "I never thought someone like you could want someone like me."

"You're handsome, funny, and kind. And we've been married the entire time I've known you."

He chuckled, and she captured his laugh in another kiss. 

They kissed until her lips were swollen and then he carried her to bed. Politics and alliances were forgotten as they held each other. He told her about the games Nadia made up for them, and she talked about her sisters in the Zowa school. 


	13. Adrik

Adrik felt raw. For the first time he was awake before Leoni, and he couldn't help staring at her. The most beautiful woman he'd ever known inside and out. And she wanted him.

Despite the gravity of everything, he felt more hopeful than he had in years. They had made it this far. He could figure out a way. When Nikolai heard about what the Zemenis were suffering with the broken treaty, he would forgive Leoni. Maybe have her openly work for Ravka and Nyota Heri. Nikolai would see the truth of it.

He kissed her cheek before getting out of bed to wash his face and change. Once in his trousers he threw a blanket around his shoulders and rang for a maid to bring them coffee. He was more of a tea person, but seeing Leoni drink it every morning was its own joy, and he wanted to experience it with her.

Once the woman was gone, he shrugged off the blanket and precariously balanced with his arm. Leoni immediately woke up, shooting upright in bed. “Did you get one for me?” she asked groggily. Rubbing her eyes, she sat up and squinted at him. “Good morning, my sweet."

"No one has ever called me sweet," he chuckled. 

"That's a shame, since it’s true." 

When he placed the tray on the nightstand and sat on the bed, she crawled over to him and put her chin on his bare shoulder. He wondered what she thought of the dark scars and ridges from the volcra, but she paid it no mind.

If it weren't for the circumstances it would feel normal. A husband and wife waking up and getting ready for their day. But even if they weren't soldiers, he couldn't give her some grand room or servants. Saints knew she deserved it. 

"Chuku wrote back," she said, holding up a blank piece of paper. "An extra week is what he is going to give us to get into the warehouse. To scout, come up with a plan, and give the Zemeni ship time to dock. We will say that you're interested in doing more business." 

Adrik nodded. "A week to put this together? I think the two of us will be fine."

"Plus we have the support of Zemeni intelligence. We are stretched thin." She frowned and looked down at the paper. "There's a total blockade right now."

"A blockade?"

"There was a terrorist attack, and the Council put a blockade on the East. People and goods aren't supposed to cross our ports right now."

"Wait. That's not possible." He looked at her. Her eyes stared at him over her coffee, the scarf on her head askew "Zemenis are our biggest exporter."

She gave him a nod.  _ How could Nikolai and the Triumvirate let it get this bad? _ He wondered. That didn't seem right. Ravka had enemies on all sides, there was no reason to cut off their largest allies, with a huge naval presence and technological advancements. 

"Nyota Heri is self sufficient," she said matter-of-factly. "With all the terrains and various crops, trade was more of a courtesy.”

Adrik set down his cup and massaged the bridge of his nose. 

“There’s nothing we can do about it right now. We should focus on what we can.” She reached over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Let's do the most that we can." 

They sat together and looked at the map she made, discussing possible solutions. It came down to the fact they wanted to avoid a repeat of Gafvalle. No blowing up dams, no endangering lives needlessly. No making some grand point about grisha. Despite being on opposite sides, they were intelligence officers. They owed it to everyone in danger to gather knowledge.

Leoni pointed out certain vantage points - with Zemeni long-range rifles, she could easily watch from above and take out anyone necessary. 

“You’ve seen combat before, haven’t you?”

“I haven’t, but we’ve fended off poachers before. People like Olson who come and kill our big animals or go places they shouldn't." Leoni glanced at him. "Nothing like what you've been through." Silence. "If you ever need to talk, I'll listen."

"It's been years. I'm okay."

She nodded, but Adrik got the distinct feeling she didn’t believe him at all. It didn’t matter. Leoni got the guns out of their hiding places and began to clean them while he talked out their plans. They would do it in the very early part of the morning, when the night guard was tired from their shift. Winter nights in Fjerda were surreal.

They fell into a comfortable silence. Writing and planning until Adrik needed to make an appearance with their host, and Leoni was going to a tea with Fru Olson and other high society ladies. She changed into a pale pink dress that made her look like the morning sunrise. She slid on another ring, next to their “wedding” ring. 

“What is that?” he asked. It was a pretty pearl-like shape.

“It has a compartment in it. A little motivation to speak the truth,” she grinned. “Fru Olson is a little uptight, if you haven’t noticed.”

Adrik made sure the Zemeni arm was completely covered by his glove and sleeves before stepping out into the hallway. He knew his way well enough to find the study where Olson, Chuku-as-Lukas, and a couple other Fjerdan men were waiting. They were in standard merchant wear - more opulent than military and scientific types such as Brum.

"There's our Border merchant!" Lukas exclaimed.

Adrik tried putting on airs - tried to be like Nikolai. Or Nadia. “I hope you didn’t get started without me. Had to spend some time with the wife, you know.”

The men chuckled knowingly, and Adrik felt gross inside.  _ Please forgive me, Leoni _ . He sat down, swinging his leg to put his ankle on his knee and leaning back. It was an extremely uncomfortable position but he kept his chin up. He was struck by the sameness of the men in front of him. They were different ages, and their hair ranged from dirty blonde to light gray, but they were all wealthy with pale skin and light eyes, with wispy eyebrows that were barely visible.

“We were just discussing Novyi Zem,” one of them said in a raspy voice. Adrik resisted the urge to look at Lukas/Chuku. “That wife of yours, is it true she has connections to the Fahey farm?”

Adrik had no idea what that was. “Of course.”

“One of the most lucrative crops in all the West, run by a Kaelish man no less. It would be great to get access to their jurda. He’s notoriously hard to work out an agreement with. A regular access to jurda would make us all extremely wealthy. The military would pay an arm and a leg for it, I know. Brum has his workarounds, but they’re sub par to the real thing.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Adrik responded. The name Fahey sounded familiar, but it escaped him. 

“Opjer is marching on Ravka, but some funding from Novyi Zem would really secure everything,” he continued. “According to Brum, there’s some religious fanaticism about two saints around Gafvalle, but the church will not stand for it. They will be squashed. False saints have no place in Fjerda.”

Adrik remained calm. It was them; Adrik the Uneven and Leoni of the Waters. “Foolish people have foolish gods,” he smirked. “Opjer seems like a capable ruler. How can we support him in his endeavors?”

“Financially, of course. Providing a united front behind Opjer will be good. And this is a younger generation of Fjerdans. We aren’t heavy on the anti-grisha sentiment. We want access to their technology. By presenting ourselves as,” Olson waved his arms around. “Moderate, then the Ravkans who remember that civil war between grisha will be more likely to support us. Instead of the bastard on the throne, and that General witch Nazyalensky.”

The ingenuity of it blew Adrik away. They couldn’t care less about the monarchy and Ravkan people. Access to resources via Novyi Zem, bodies of Fjerdan women, and the technology of Ravkan innovation. And the  _ otkazat’sya _ were still wary and superstitious of grisha - the Darkling and his civil war against Alina didn’t help. It wouldn’t be difficult to turn them towards a different monarch, one that didn’t have rumors of his own demons swirling about him. 

But Adrik played it off. “Of course, of course. Wives are good for more than the bedroom, as you know,” he chuckled. His stomach twisted up. But it drew a raucous laugh from the men around him. He leaned back, gathering as much information as he could. And in the corner of his eye, he could see Chuku doing the same.


	14. Leoni

Leoni was glad to be done with tea, the parties, and the inane gossip. The wives of Fjerdans were insufferable. They wouldn’t talk about anything of substance, and they asked her a hundred questions about her hair. But it was coming to an end. So she went back to the room and worked on the rifles. She opened her kit, grabbing needles and making darts. The tips of each of them were carefully laced in a tranquilizer she slapped together. 

She modified them carefully, and was deep in work when Adrik returned. He dropped a kiss on her head before pulling a chair next to her. "What a bunch of assholes."

“For some reason that doesn’t surprise me in the least.” She checked the sight on her long range rifle. She was impatient to get this over with - to leave this forsaken country and get to the warmth of home. The only thing that gave her pause was Adrik’s lips on her skin. It was an overwhelming experience being under the intensity of his gaze and the center of his affection. They stood on opposite sides of this vast sea and still crossed it for each other.

Tonight was the last night. Chuku had discreetly delivered their outfits for the break-in, which were stashed under their other luggage. Finally, she put down the guns and focused on him. His eyes were bright, but she could see the tension. He was thinking the same as her.  _ What is going to happen tomorrow? _

“I asked for lunch to be delivered to us,” he said. “I don’t want to spend another minute with them.” 

Leoni agreed, and she lay her head on Adrik’s shoulder. They sat like that for awhile until their food arrived; another stew, this time with elk. She couldn’t wait to be done with the heavy food of Fjerda, the short day, and the cold people. She missed the warmth, finding it instead in Adrik’s arms.

It was a lazy afternoon, and Leoni had too many thoughts to say them out loud. They decided to rest in anticipation of the night ahead, lounging in bed. Leoni forced herself not to do any work, not to study her papers obsessively. Instead, she focused on the feeling of being against Adrik, the two of them side by side, pinkies linked together.

“Do you think this will work?” Adrik asked. “The two of us, against a Fjerdan company?”

“If Nina can take on the Ice Court with angry teenagers, we will be fine,” Leoni replied. 

“Have you ever been to Ketterdam?” Adrik asked, turning to face her. 

“Briefly, when I moved to Ravka. We stopped there for supplies and I spent a few hours on the streets. It was awful. Gray and boring.” 

“Ravka is pretty gray and boring too,” Adrik said. 

Leoni looked at him. “I do not want to talk about Ravka anymore. Or Fjerda. I want to lay in bed with a handsome man.”

Adrik leaned forward and touched their foreheads together. “Anything for you.” And Leoni truly believed him. Death felt inevitable at this point. She had escaped death three times by poisoning, she didn’t believe there would be a fourth. But her mission, ultimately, had been successful. Infiltrate the Little Palace and pass on information regarding the treaties, tech, and possible plots against Nyota Heri. Her parents would be well compensated by the council.

She rolled on top of Adrik and kissed him passionately. He was only surprised for a moment before putting his own arm around her waist, crushing her on to him. 

They spent a dizzying afternoon with each other. Adrik loved like a man who had lost too much, who wanted to cherish every detail about her. Leoni had never felt so known, and she didn’t want it to end. Her fingers were tight in his hair and he whispered sweet nothings in her ears until they fell asleep tangled in each other.

Adrik was the first one to wake up, and he gently placed a hand on her shoulder. He stood up and washed up first, while Leoni buried her head in the soft pillow. Her skin still felt raw and tender from his touch. 

The clothes Chuku left were comfortably modern. Black breeches that stretched with her movements, a soft long sleeve black shirt, a hair scarf, and non-slip shoes and gloves. Adrik’s clothes were similar, and they had large white jackets and overpants lined with fur, along with fabrikated glasses that protected their faces while making sure they could see.

She twisted and tucked her hair under the scarf, and helped Adrik make sure his arm was completely secured. She strapped two revolvers to her hips, and a rifle on her shoulder. Adrik had a pistol, and she tied extra bullets around her waist, and a kit of her most important tinctures and antidotes. 

Leoni made a tea but only nibbled on some pastries, not wanting to be distracted by a heavy stomach. Adrik came over and took a sip. 

“That tastes terrible,” he said, grimacing. “Why would you drink this.”

“Well. It’s uh,” she motioned towards her lower stomach. “A contraceptive.”

His face immediately turned red. “Right. Sorry. I’ll just -” he placed the mug in front of her. “Let you finish that.” 

She smiled at him over the cup as she downed it. When they finally heard the call of Zemeni operatives from across the grounds, they began to move. 

Under the cover of darkness, they scaled down the side of the building. The snow beneath them was compact, and Adrik used wind to sweep away the fingerprints they left behind. The Fjerdan night was bitterly cold, and even through the thick clothing, Leoni felt it seeping through. They moved quickly to the sled that was waiting for them. 

A light-skinned and passing Zemeni operative was waiting for them, where they set a brutal pace to the warehouse, stopping half a mile outside. Adrik helped her down, and they double checked all their equipment. The other agent would wait out of sight in the woods for when they left, and had orders to leave at sunrise no matter what. They had four hours.

For a brief moment, Leoni pressed her forehead against Adrik’s. When they parted, he pulled his goggles off so that she could see his eyes, stark against the all-white backdrop of his clothes and surroundings.

“Leoni. Stay safe.” He cleared his throat. “That’s my last order as your commanding officer.”

She smiled at him. “Yes, sir.”

They made quick time to the warehouse, and Leoni aimed her rifle at the guards by the back doors and loading dock. She breathed in and out slowly, and when her heart rate was calm enough, she fired.

Her rifle had been outfitted to hold tranquilizing needles, and the man clutched his chest before falling to the ground. His friend didn’t even have the chance to call out before she took him down as well. 

"I really wish I had known you were such a good shot," he muttered. She used her  _ materialnik _ powers to alter the locks, focusing on the big particles instead of the molecules she normally did. 

A guard moved to yell, only to be stopped when Adrik took the air out of his lungs, giving Leoni time to tranquilize him. Once inside, they found a nook where they discarded their white outer layers and were now in the breathable dark colors. Adrik’s eyebrows were knit together as he scoped, signalling at her to start moving with him. 

There were tall crates all over the warehouse, creating long narrow corridors, and sometimes giving way to large open areas. Adrik lowered the air pressure and they moved swiftly. She kept her rifle at the ready, only lowering it to put more darts inside. The butt was lodged against her shoulder, and she ignored the bruise forming from the kickback. 

Adrik motioned at her to stop when they reached the mysterious part of the warehouse - where there were Fjerdan guards armed to the teeth, not the typical security patrols. They were protecting something. 

The two of them huddled, and Adrik lowered the pressure more, making her ears ache. “We shouldn’t take them all at once. Maybe we can split them up.” 

Leoni started to scale one of the large containers as quietly as possible. She lay down on her stomach and looked through the scope. She counted six of them, all mean looking men who were probably drüskelle rejects. 

She pulled out a small bag, motioning at Adrik. He lifted his arm and carried it through the shadowed areas over by the guards. As it hovered, Leoni took aim. 

There was an explosion of dust that was pitch black and she threw another one down on the ground. Adrik swirled the air around, using it to blind each of the guards. As he weaved his grisha power, Leoni reloaded and shot them all with tranquilizers. 

Adrik was waiting when she leapt down and squeezed her shoulder. "Ready?" He asked. She nodded, switching out her rifle for a revolver. 

It took a while before Adrik could find where the secret entrance was, Leoni guarding his back. Time was marching on, and an hour was gone. 

Adrik threw his body into the door and messed with the pressure until the door gave way, Leoni aiming her guns. 

The first thing that hit Leoni was the overwhelming stench of unwashed bodies. Adrik covered his nose and began to circulate air from the outside. 

When Leoni's eyes adjusted, she saw what Olson was hiding. Women.

Girls, women, all of them with their mouths and hands bound, looking at her in fear and squinting against the light that streamed in. "No, no, no," Leoni whispered, holstering her revolver and looking around frantically. 

The words of their hosts echoed back at her. Fjerdan women were wives, Fjerdan women were docile. They didn't want to do these experiments on their own girls anymore. The ones in front of Leoni were Suli, Zemeni, Shu. She saw Hedjut girls as well. 

Fury laced every part of her. The cruelty of Fjerdans knew no bounds. The cruelty of their men. This was Olson's secret to success - the trafficking of girls. Ravka and Fjerda were obsessed with moving bodies into their borders, and she was sickened by it all.

"Saints," Adrik whispered. 

Leoni fought back the tears, seeing her own face in the women in chains. "Ravka and Fjerda can keep their bloody war," she said. "I want no more part in this unless it's to stop these things from happening."

"How should we get them out?" He asked. "There are at least two dozen girls." 

"I have an emergency flare. Go outside and use it quickly." She handed it over to him. "I'll start releasing them." 

Adrik nodded and ran out. She raised her hands and repeated herself in Ravkan, Fjerdan, and Zemeni. "I'm here to help. Please stay quiet." She pushed a finger to her lips, and they all understood.

She used her zowa abilities to go to them one by one. Some of them were fearful, but most were eager, holding out their hands. Leoni moved as fast as she could. 

When Adrik returned he helped comfort the girls, conscious not to touch them without asking. 

"Any responses?" She asked. 

"Not yet," he replied. "There's no way we can take them out without being noticed. This is scorched earth. Does Zemeni intelligence have a contingency?" 

"I sure fucking hope so," she muttered, and Adrik looked at her in surprise. "What?"

"I just. I don't think I've ever heard you swear before."

"Consider it a special occasion."

The women weren't pregnant as far as she knew, but they were frightened, and they were in enemy territory, with the ship to take her home docked far away. Adrik was right. They were going to salt the roots of this entire operation.

They moved the women out to the main area, Leoni keeping her guns at the ready. The guards hadn't seen their faces but she was still full of rage. They were complicit. 

Other agents arrived at the warehouse and made a beeline for Leoni, speaking in another Zemeni dialect so Adrik couldn't understand. 

"This is an act of war. It's only going to get worse from here. We can rush them to the harbor but we won't be able to extract you. The ship will leave immediately. There is no guarantee you will return home."

"There's no way to leave tonight with them?"

"No. Your arrival was penned for two days based on the route we took. We can't risk docking with them. It will be hard to go home after this. Are you willing?"

"I chose this life," she replied. "They didn't. I will find my way." She glanced at Adrik. "I usually do."

They walked the girls out, Adrik shielding them as best as possible from the weather, providing a buffer with the wind. The Zemenis loaded them with blankets and then they were off, the trails behind them disappearing as soon as they landed. 

"Let's wrap up here," she said. There was a hard edge to her voice. "And then head back."

They walked back in and Leoni looked at the soldiers on the ground. The everyday workers could stay where they were. But the ones who knew? She wasn't in a forgiving mood. She was tired of this war, tired of the girls caught in between and the boys who lost their lives. 

She rummaged through her travel kit and found what she wanted. A potent poison. 

"Leoni -" Adrik reached for her arm. "There's no coming back from this."

"I know. But there's a ring of trafficking girls. And they would have been forcibly impregnated too. No one deserves that. These people helped."

"I agree," Adrik said. He walked with her to the first sleeping guard. 

Leoni's hand didn't tremble or shake. There was no doubt in her mind as she put two drops of poison into his mouth and watched as his breathing slowed, then stopped altogether. She repeated the process until she and Adrik were the only living beings left. 

As they stepped outside, Leoni stared back. They had a half hour. "I wish my friend Nhaban was here to burn it to the ground for us."

Adrik looked up at the sky. "I can help with that."

Leoni watched as he raised his hand towards the sky. The air pressure became heavy, and there was a sudden crack above. His eyebrows were knit together in concentration and when he exhaled drew his hand down and summoned an explosive lightning strike. 

The compound lit up as if it was daytime, Leoni shielding her eyes from the worst of it. He summoned one more from the sky to the other side before letting his arm drop. A fire had started where the girls had once been. 

He had the vibrant glow on him that came from using powers, his skin radiant and eyes bright. Despite everything around them, her heart did an odd flip. She wanted to go back to the peaceful afternoon where he called her  _ solnyshko _ and caressed her with tender fingers. 

They found the small sled waiting for them and raced back to the mansion, barely sneaking up on the balcony again. Adrik started a fire where they burned their new clothes, flames reaching high into the chimney. 

Adrik pressed tender kisses to her forehead and down to her jaw. "Are you okay?" He asked. 

Leoni nodded. "I will be." They went to bed and fell asleep holding each other tight. Leoni tried not to think about the vagueness of the future. Earlier she had been worried about what it meant for her and Adrik. Now the walls were closing around her, and there was no telling if she would see a Zemeni afternoon again.


	15. Adrik

When Adrik heard a rapid pounding on the door, his hazy instinct was to shield Leoni. She stirred and buried her head into his chest, when Olson himself burst in. 

Leoni let out a perfect gasp of impropriety, while also throwing herself over Adrik's missing arm. He appreciated the ingenuity. They looked like a young couple suddenly awakened.

"There's been an emergency at the warehouse," he said in brusque Fjerdan. "I will return later today."

Adrik held her close until the door was slammed shut. He kept Leoni against him, thumb running in a circle on her shoulder. “Do you think he suspects us?” she asked Adrik quietly. Her eyes had dark circles around them. “Should we escape now?”

“That will look worse,” Adrik responded. “And we need to get you to the ship.”

“Adrik,” she sat up and looked at him. She gave a little nod, but he could see the shine in her eyes. His stomach hit the floor. “There’s no ship anymore. It had to be the girls or me. Of course I chose the girls.” She gave him a sad smile.

"Why didn't you say something? You could have left with them."

"I wasn't going to strand you," she said. "We will figure it out."

This made everything worse. "We aren't far from the Ravkan border," he said. "If we can get there, I'll make sure Nikolai let's you go. He has to listen to reason. I wouldn't be alive if it weren't for you."

Leoni worried at her bottom lip. He hated the distrust in her face. 

"He's a good man. He will be lenient and ban you from Ravka. It won't be high treason. After all, his father raped women and they sent him to the colonies." Where Leoni was from. That gave him pause. Was he kept away from girls there? Were Suli and Zemeni girls given the same thought as Genya? He shook his head.

"Please," he begged. "I'll take care of you." He couldn't lose another person to this stupid war, especially not Leoni. Maybe he could leave the military after this - he was so tired. Leoni was worth more than all of this. 

She looked at him with watery eyes. "You will?"

He nodded fervently. "I want to."

Leoni squeezed his hand. "Okay. I trust you, Adrik. I'll go to Ravka with you, my sweet _umyeni_ ." 

He sighed with relief. He would come up with an airtight defense for Leoni. He would resign, take a cushy job in West Ravka. With Fjerda marching on Ravka, Nikolai had better things to do than worry about a Zemeni agent. They weren't friends, but they had fought together, and Adrik had been loyal for several years now.

Adrik watched as Leoni stood up and went to the bath. Nadia would love her. She was kind and loving and bright. He already didn't want to imagine a future she wasn't a part of, even if their countries were determined to keep it from happening.

They preemptively packed their bags. Tomorrow morning, they would tell Olson they didn't want to impose during this troubled time and make their way to the border. The rifles were hidden away, but Leoni kept the revolvers within reach. 

Adrik and Leoni went on a stroll through the grounds to put on a facade of normalcy. And if he was being honest with himself, he liked having an excuse to hold her more. 

Servants rushed around and didn't pay them much mind. The atmosphere was tense but they pretended not to notice, wandering the halls arm in arm until Fru Olson found them, looking at a rather dour row of family portraits. 

"Herre Koelbeck, Madsi, would you join me for tea?"

Leoni deferred to him in a manner so Fjerdan he balked. "Of course Fru Olson." 

They went to another lavish room that was decidedly feminine, with ridiculously small tea sets and rather weak tea. Fru Olson was a rigid but nice woman, if overall bland. 

One of the maids came in to pour more tea as the women led the conversation. Banal things, and he didn't know how Leoni was able to carry on. The woman went to refill their cups and he nodded, when she tripped.

Hot water spilled onto his sleeve and he pulled back, trying to brush at it with his arm. 

"Oh! Herre Koelbeck!" She tittered. "I'm so sorry, let me get a medic."

"No need," he brushed off. "I'll change into something dry."

Leoni laughed nervously, and he saw a flash of fear on her face. "You know military men. A little burn won't scare them off."

Burn.

Shit.

A person with a real arm would have screamed. No matter how tough, they would have yelled. Fru Olson simply smiled her emotionless smile. "Please excuse her, she is not well trained and will be appropriately punished."

Adrik tried to look calm as he excused himself. Would she piece it together? Did she buy the excuse? They needed to leave immediately without arousing even more suspicion. But Chuku was gone. So were most of the agents in the area, securing passage for the girls. 

He made sure their important papers were on his person. Leoni came in not much longer, eyes wide. 

"Did she suspect anything?"

"I don't know," she whispered. "She didn't react, but she is smart. It's not a matter of if she tells her husband, it’s when."

"Maybe they won't put it together," he said hopefully. But he wasn't going to be optimistic about Fjerdans now. "A one armed man and Zemeni couple traveling together. Maybe it’s more common than we think."

"In the meantime, we proceed as normal. We will go to dinner, continue walking around the grounds, and stand guard tonight."

That was a sensible plan. If they needed to leave in the morning, they still could. Dinner moved forward without incident, and despite his concern everything felt normal. Olson was back to his offensive and gregarious self, and there was no mention of the tea incident. 

Leoni agreed to take the morning shift, since she was naturally an early riser. Adrik spent most of the night watching her sleep, wary of any suspect noise. Other than the crackle of the fireplace, not a thing was out of sight. 

Adrik woke up with Leoni's hand on his mouth. She had a revolver in her hand and motioned towards the door. He immediately sat up, putting his hands at the ready. She was crouched next to him. 

There was such a stark contrast between the softness of her skin in the moonlight, and the vicious concentration on her face. At least they'd had the foresight to sleep in regular clothes. 

The door exploded open. 

Powerful gunshots rang out and Adrik swept the mattress of the bed up to shield them in a burst, feathers exploding throughout the room in a flurry. He immediately swirled his hand around to gather them up, sending them into the Fjerdan's eyes. 

There were bursts of light as Leoni shot with deadly aim at their chests, but more Fjerdans came. 

"Aim for the hands!" One yelled. A bullet was fired and Adrik waited for impact, only to find it crushed in front of him, Leoni throwing her own hand out, and then sending it back. He reached forward and took the air out of their chests before throwing the wind towards the balcony doors. 

Cold air whipped in, and he harnessed it. Leoni shot more of the Fjerdans before running behind his back to reload. There was no hesitation. They tried to hurt Leoni. They trafficked those women that they knew bigoted Fjerdans wouldn't care about. They deserved no mercy. 

When the Fjerdans were dead around them, he went to the closet and fetched their white overclothes. "We need to jump."

There was a startled cry from the doorway. They turned to see Fru Olson, looking at the bodies of her countrymen. Her husband was by her side and opened his mouth to speak. 

He never got a word out. Leoni put a bullet through his head. 

Fru Olson screamed hysterically, but Leoni showed no remorse. Her face was cold. "Have you ever met Saints?" She asked the woman. 

Sniffing at the corpse of her husband, she spit at Leoni. The Zemeni simply wiped her face. "Disgusting mongrel, could never be a Saint. And he debased himself by lying with you," she ground out. 

Rage filled him, and he moved to stop her words, but Leoni held a hand up to him. "I never claimed to be a Saint, Fru Olson. I am something much worse. I am the Zemeni woman who destroyed what your husband built. Did you know about the women in chains?"

"Hardly women," she replied haughtily. "Better them than us."

Leoni put a bullet in her. Adrik stared, wide eyed at the bodies around them. In the wake of chaos it was an eerie silence. "Complicit," Leoni whispered. "How could she let them do that to women?"

Adrik gently pulled at her arm. "We need to go." He kissed her forehead. "You are so much better than a Saint of false hope. You avenged them."

He felt bad, simply because he could not find an ounce of regret in his body. Adrik didn't even question Leoni's decision to shoot them point blank. He was hyper aware of her beside him, matching him step for step. They kept a brutal pace from the mansion until they could steal a sled from in town. 

Their faces were freezing and his body ached to give up, but they couldn't stop. Adrenaline kept them moving the four hours to the nearest Ravkan border crossing. They encountered few people out, and thankfully no soldiers. They were encroaching on neutral territory. 

When they arrived, Ravkan soldiers greeted them with rifles. "Announce yourselves!"

"Commanding Officer Adrik Zhabin!" He shouted, holding his arms up. "And this is Corporal Leoni Hilli. We are members of the Second Army by order of His Imperial Majesty Tsar Nikolai Lantsov."

The soldiers conversed, still holding them at gunpoint. Time stretched infinitely on in the barren cold winter if the border. He met Leoni's eyes. _I'll take care of you_ , he mouthed.

"Officer Zhabin, thank you. We have been looking for you for weeks. We are glad to see you home."

Adrik visibly relaxed and turned towards her. It was almost over.

"Leoni Hilli, you are under arrest for illegal espionage and treason against the Ravkan crown." 

Adrik started yelling. Tears began welling in her eyes as they tied her hands together and stripped her of her weapons. She wasn't fighting. "No! You don't understand!" He tried to explain. "I'm here because of her!"

"Calm down, she will have a chance to explain herself in Os Alta."

He screamed and fought, but he was no match for the Heartrender that slowed his heart down, causing him to pass out in the snow.


	16. Leoni

The cell was uncomfortable, but what Leoni really missed was knowing Adrik was nearby. He had been a constant for so long that it felt strange. For the first time since they met, she didn't see him every day. 

According to her sleep cycle, it had been three days. Enough time to get to Os Alta, and who knew what awaited her there. She had gone from freeing women in chains to being in them herself. The irony was not lost on her. 

The future looked bleak. The Ravkans kept her fed, but threw the food inside so half of it ended up on the floor. Soldiers that she had seen before in passing at the Little Palace now regarded her with disgust.

She meditated. She sang to herself until she didn't have a voice to give. Adrik had promised her, though doubt niggled into the back of her mind.  _ Maybe he changed his mind and decided it wasn't worth it. That I wasn’t worth it, _ the ugly voice started.  _ No. He promised. That means something from a man like him. _

Day five she was finally given fresh clothes to wear. Simple spun cotton. She would likely never wear one of the beautiful purple keftas again. When she washed her face in a bowl, her hands were bound again and she was lead down a hall.

The room was brightly lit. The Tsar himself was sitting on an oaken throne, surrounded by the Triumvirate. David and Genya had somber expressions on their faces. Zoya looked furious. But she kept her chin high. Tolya and Tamar stood by the throne, the heartrender twins waiting for her to make a wrong movement. 

She let her gaze settle on Tamar. After all, Adrik was her brother-in-law. The Shu woman's stare was hard, and Leoni gave her a small smile. Tamar looked away.

Adrik was brought in soon after. His face was ruddy, and devastated. The red laced through his irises made her frown. But he had a determined grit underneath, and it was comforting knowing where he was. She let out a long exhale. 

"This is a hearing over Leoni Hilli, also known as Inyoni Mbeki. Revealed to be a member of Zemeni intelligence when we looked into her background as a result of her disappearance with Officer Adrik Zhabin and Nina Zenik in Fjerda. She is being tried for treason against Ravka, endangering the throne, and the distribution of military secrets to a foreign country."

Nikolai looked at her with cold eyes. Leoni had not spoken much to him, ever. He apparently knew everyone in the Second Army but she had never had reason to talk with him. When he visited the workshops, David did most of the work. It was David who had the kindest expression. He had valued her talent at forgery and they had shared many moments of brilliance. 

"We will refer to her as Leoni for the duration of the trial," Nikolai continued. “Her real identity came to light after an investigation into the disappearance of her unit.” He looked at Leoni. “Your papers are good. Really good. But we do have David Kostyk at our disposal.”

David became alert at the sound of his name. “It was really impressive. The truth could only be discovered at a microscopic level. The trees used in the paper were not found in the region she claimed to be from, so I did some investigating. It turns out it is a canvas made from jurda that can be manipulated to look like other with a good  _ alkemi _ , the Zemeni are quite talented and I would love to -”

“That’s enough, David,” Zoya cut off. “This is a trial. Not a convention for  _ Materialnik _ . ” She turned her deadly blue eyes onto Leoni, but she wasn’t scared. “How dare you take advantage of the Second Army’s kindness and resources for your personal gain, and then betray the country.” Leoni remained silent, which only aggravated Zoya further. “Well?!”

“I’m sorry,” Leoni replied in a soft voice. “I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to speak.”

That only made Zoya’s pretty face angrier. But she motioned for Leoni to continue. “My only goal has been to help zowa escape the confines of persecution and forced servitude in the East. I have no regrets.”

Zoya scoffed. “Ravka has that taken care of.”

Leoni’s lip twitched as her eyes went to Genya. The look did not go unnoticed, and people shifted uncomfortably. “The military is presented as the only option for zowa. But that is not the case. We have true freedom across the sea, where zowa are as free to make choices as everyone else. I chose to go into intelligence training. I was given this assignment at sixteen years old. I would do it again.”

“You say this, knowing it would cost you your life?” The general said. 

“Yes. I went to Fjerda. I helped countless zowa to freedom. I protected my country with information when treaties were broken.” This time she looked straight at Nikolai. “Despite the treatment of the Umhlaba Obiwe - what you call the Southern Colonies - Novyi Zem have been your allies. We have spilled blood in your wars and given resources. Yet you turn your back on us when we are also endangered.”

“How presumptuous of you,” Nikolai responded. “You know nothing of Ravka’s problems.”

“And you know nothing outside Ravka,” she challenged. “We have zowa inventions that have propelled us into prosperity. The cure for parem will never be viable without us. David would learn much if there was an exchange of information instead of Ravka jealously guarding itself, and closing off Zemeni people from their own land in the colonies.”

“You would do well to mind your betters,” Zoya retorted. Tamar, Tolya, and David all looked uncomfortable. 

“Not a single person here is better than me,” Leoni said. 

Zoya was about to respond when Adrik cut her off. “You are all being unfair to Leoni. The truth is, it is thanks to her that we were able to free all these women. That we rid the town of poison. Do you know that Fjerdans actually believe in saints now? Sankt Adrik the Uneven,” he rolled his eyes and Tamar let out a snort “And Sankta Leoni of the Waters. This could be a turning point for us. We found out valuable information in Fjerda that the Zemenis were more than willing to share about the Opjer plot to -”

“How do you know about that?” Nikolai said, sitting up. 

“I met with one of his closest associates. Thanks to Leoni. We know about their plan now, and that wouldn’t have happened without her contacts. She doesn’t deserve to be sentenced to death for treason. Ban her from Ravka instead. You’ve let worse people go,” Adrik said. There was an edge to his voice. “Alina would hate you for sentencing Leoni to death.”

That stirred something in all of them. Leoni couldn’t tell if it was the right or wrong thing to say, but it got a response. Adrik continued. “I don’t sit on the Triumvirate and I’m not in Os Alta because I’m out there. I’m in Fjerda, I’ve been on the ground for years. We need allies and we need help. No one will help us anymore if you hurt her. You’ll just make another martyr, another girl who died too young. The Zemenis already closed their borders. Do you want to start a war with them too?”

“They knew the risk when they sent her,” Nikolai responded. But there was doubt in his voice. 

“Novyi Zem already has a dozen reasons to declare war on us,” Adrik said. “Don’t tip the scales.”

Zoya looked at him. “I liked you better when you trailed after my every word.”

“No you didn’t,” Adrik responded. This was not going well for Leoni, and her heart was thudding in her chest despite her breathing exercises. But she refused to tremble. Adrik met her eyes, and then looked towards the twins. Leoni couldn’t read the expression. “  _ Yuyeh sesh, _ ” he said.

“ _ Ni weh sesh, _ ” Tamar replied softly. 

Nikolai loudly cleared his throat. “I grow tired of these accusations being lobbed to and fro. If I wanted to play sports, I would have done so. We will discuss, and then reconvene tomorrow afternoon.” 

Leoni was sent back to her cell, and she paced the room frantically. Finally, she fell down onto her cot and started to sob.

She didn't want to die here, alone. It was inevitable but it still hurt. Despite everything she had hoped Adrik was telling the truth. But there was no compassion. Only selfishness and posturing. 

Leoni allowed herself to think about her parents, the ones she pushed to the back of her mind when she moved to Ravka. Maybe they would send her home in a plain wooden box. They would mourn her. But they most likely already had. Her letters were few and far between. Her father who loved to tinker with machines. Her mother who was the backbone of their neighborhood. Maybe they even had another child. A younger sibling she knew nothing about. 

She comforted herself with a flood of memories, striving to remember every little thing about home. Leoni only awoke from her grief-filled stupor when there was a quiet knock. 

The door of her cell opened, and a tall blonde stepped in. Her heart leapt, but then she quickly realized it was a woman.

She was lean and beautiful, with a constellation of freckles. She looked exactly like Adrik. 

"Nadia?" She asked. Her voice was hoarse. 

She swept forward, dabbing Leoni's face with her sleeve. "You're Leoni. Adrik was worried sick about you." Nadia handed Leoni a pastry. It was still warm. "I promised I would visit. Also, I wanted to meet you."

"Why?" Leoni asked. The pastry was the best thing she'd eaten in ages. 

"Well, he's head over heels. Hasn't stopped talking about you. I was afraid he'd challenge Nikolai to a duel." She chuckled. "You did a number on him. But I see why."

Leoni was grateful her skin disguised the heat that rushed to her cheeks. 

"My wife was in your hearing and said you don't deserve this. And I trust her completely." Nadia shook her head. “I hope you don’t paint us all with the same stroke. Can I hug you?” 

Leoni nodded, and she was wrapped in a huge, sisterly hug. “I haven’t seen him so hopeful and determined since the Civil War. That means something to me.” Nadia squeezed her shoulder. “Sounds like you two went through a lot. You’ll have to tell me someday. But that day is not today.” Nadia slid her a small piece of metal between her hands. “And one here.” She tucked it into Leoni’s hair. “You’ll have your opportunity.”

“Thank you,” Leoni whispered. 

“He would never forgive me if we didn’t try.”

Just like that, Nadia was gone. If it weren’t for the metal in her palms, she would have thought it was some phantom she conjured. But it was real. She could still taste the dusting of sugar on her lips.

Leoni gave thanks to her ancestors for guiding her so far. Maybe she would join them soon. But just maybe she wouldn't. She was able to curl up and sleep, dreaming of warm, sunny shores. 


	17. Adrik

Adrik's throat was sore from yelling at Nikolai and Zoya. For hours. When they sent Leoni out, he banged on the door until they finally opened it. Genya looked mildly impressed, and Zoya looked ready to strangle him.

"The truth of the matter is that she is an enemy spy," Nikolai declared. "No matter how sweet or smiley she is, Adrik. She came to the Little Palace with the express purpose of learning secrets." 

"Which wouldn't be an issue if you were transparent with our allies in the first place."

Nikolai rubbed his temples. "Other kings would have you thrown in jail for this."

"You know I'm right. This could be a peace offering." He took a steadying breath. "You value what every other surviving grisha from the war has to say except for me. Remember, I fought with you and Alina every step of the way. I was there with all of you!" He looked at them. "If I were Zoya or Genya or Tolya, you wouldn't dismiss me. Yet I've been on the ground and among people.

"Ravka is on the precipice. We need allies, not more enemies. We will not survive this blockade when Fjerda lands at our doors. Your forefathers may be responsible for tense relations with Zemenis, Nikolai, but  _ you _ are the one who broke their trust. And if our country is overrun because you are too arrogant and out of touch to realize that, then the lives we lose are on you."

"I am trying to fix the mistakes our forefathers made, Zhabin."

"Your forefathers Lantsov. Not mine. They're dead," Adrik bit back. "Like every other peasant family. Yours is languishing somewhere in the colonies. We only won those wars because the poor provided a wall of bodies. You have to account for your own mistakes too."

The silence in the room was deafening. Finally Nikolai sat back, an unreadable expression on his face. "I hope she's worth it." He motioned to the door. "Leave. That's a direct order."

Adrik turned around and paused, then turning back to Nikolai. "Congratulations, by the way. On your engagement to Princess Ehri."

Nikolai's face went from unreadable to stone cold. "I said  _ now, _ Zhabin."

When he stepped out of the room, his steely demeanor melted away.  _ Saints, _ he thought.  _ I miss her. _ Her smile, curly hair, the feel of her fingers. Had Ravka always been this suffocating? It crawled under his skin and stretched it out, and every word trying to defend what was right felt like razors under his tongue.

His arm had been confiscated by the  _ materialnik _ workshop, and he hated the old mechanical one they gave in its place. They wanted to inspect it for anything dangerous, and likely study the tech.

Adrik paced his room. When he sat in bed, he missed Leoni by his side. He couldn't stop thinking of her alone, and wondered if Nadia was able to see her. He had never felt this useless since his arm was bitten off by a demon and he hadn't learned how to fight with one arm yet.

When Nadia finally came into his room, he bolted upright. "Did you see her?"

"I did," she answered. Nadia strode over and sat next to him. "Adrik," she let out a low whistle. "Even distressed she's quite beautiful. And she married you twice?"

"For some reason," he said. He managed a chuckle. Nadia brushed his hair back and his heart swelled. Family. Nadia and Tamar were the only thing he missed about Ravka. But it wasn't enough now that he had tasted more. "I don't deserve her, but I want to deserve her."

Nadia smiled. “You have to eat at some point. Come to the mess hall with me. It's been awhile since you’ve been there.”

And with good reason. He didn’t look up too much around the Little Palace. Too many memories of before the war. But when he walked out with Nadia, he was surprised. Little grisha running around, grabbing food. Older grisha milling about as well, a sea of blue and purple and red. But he couldn’t help thinking about how most of them would end up conscripted into the Second Army. Even at twenty, he hadn’t realized that there was more than a life of war and monsters.

The food felt like ash in his mouth, and he let Nadia ramble on about life with Tamar - it was easier than trying to put more words to his emotions. When had he grown to dislike the Little Palace so much? 

Nadia left, and he was trying to finish off his soup when a great hulking shadow landed next to him. Tolya was there, and squished himself in a much-too-small space next to Adrik with no regard for physics. 

“It's good to see you, Adrik,” he rumbled. Adrik gave him a small smile. He owed Tolya his life, and had a close kinship to the Shu man. After all, he was the one that buried his arm somewhere near the border.

"Good to see you," he replied. "I wish it was under better circumstances."

"Well, this is Ravka," Tolya chuckled. "I don't think I've ever seen you this argumentative."

"A lot has changed." Adrik let out a heavy sigh. “Tell me about something that hasn’t, Yul-Bataar.” 

The gentle giant chuckled. “I’ve started expanding into Kaelish poetry.” He pulled out a thick tome from his bag, and Adrik arched an eyebrow. His Kaelish was rudimentary at best, he had spent most of his effort into Zemeni and Fjerdan. He only knew the important phrases such as swear words, and ‘run’. 

But Tolya put on his somber recitation voice that had accompanied them throughout the Ravkan countryside, and Adrik was strangely touched. “Do casadh cailín deas orm in uaigneas na dtrá / Ar lúb na coille s'glaise uair a bheag roim lá / Sé'n fhreagar’ ó a thug sí liom go ciúin agus go tláth / Tá an saol ‘na gcoladh, is bogaimís an súisín bán.  ‘S má bhíonn tú liom bí liom, a stóirín mo chroí / ‘S má bhíonn tú liom bí liom os comhair a’ tí / Má bhíonn tú liom, ‘s gur liom gach órlach ded’ chroí / ‘Sé mo mhíle chnoc nách liom Dé Domhnaigh tú mar mhnaoi.”

Adrik stared at Tolya. He may as well been speaking gibberish. “Are you going to tell me what any of that means?” 

Tolya grinned. “Love, as usual. Most poetry is about love and death.”

“I’ve never been much for poems, truthfully.” Adrik sat quietly for a moment. “But just in case, what is it called?”

“Casadh an tsugain. Quite lovely. You know, I never noticed Leoni very much when she was here. I lived in the same place as her for three and a half years, and never had a conversation with her. I noticed her, but I think David knew her best. I know Nikolai seems cruel right now, but give it a chance.”

Adrik didn't understand how they couldn't notice Leoni. She was effortlessly magnetic. "I don't enjoy her life being in his hands."

"He knows what he's doing."

"Does he?" Adrik fired back. "He has had little regard for Zemenis in the past. Barbaric, I think he called them. But they have more advancement and peace than Ravka."

They were quiet after that. Eventually Tolya squeezed his shoulder before standing up. Adrik felt like he was going crazy. He couldn't be the only one who saw it. How unfair this all was. Ravka could trample on agreements with their allies, but sending an agent back home was too much? Nobody had been hurt by Leoni's actions.

Adrik was distraught, and ended up wandering around the grounds. He looked at the gilded walls, designed and fortified by grisha. The fabrikated glass let in natural sunlight. 

He saw the ghost of Harshaw lighting fires, and Paja with her vials. He remembered chasing after Nadia and Marie, to prove he could keep up. Adrik remembered how desperate he was to impress Zoya. But now he didn't even know what he saw in the general besides a pretty face.

Back in his room, nighttime had already settled on Os Alta and there was a note on his pillow, that simply said _banyas_ _._

Adrik trudged out into the snow. It was technically closed for maintenance, but he slipped inside anyway. 

It was eerily quiet. Most of the time it was bustling with grisha unwinding after training, relaxing sore muscles, or having trysts in dark corners. He followed the sound of water trickling to where he saw Leoni sitting in the bath with her eyes closed.

"Leoni of the Waters," he said. 

The smile on her face was brighter than any display he'd seen from the Sun Summoner, and cut him to the quick. He took off his kefta, where he had his swim shorts underneath, and slipped into the water with her. He immediately wrapped her in his arm and held her as tight as he could, surprised by the tears prickling at his eyes. 

“Oh,  _ solnyshko _ ,” he muttered into her hair. “Have they been treating you well? How did you get here?”

“Your sister gave me some lock picks.” She gently pulled away and put her forehead onto his. “It’s alright. Makes me miss the stable in Gafvalle. Never thought I would say those words.”

Adrik let out a watery chuckle. “I missed you so much.” He sat up and studied her face. She looked tired and worn. A little thin, which worried him. But she still had a glorious glow about her. “I felt like the world was off balance.”

“I missed you too.” She placed a gentle kiss on his lips. “No matter how tomorrow goes, you will have to go on without me.”

“Don’t say that,” he replied. “”Nikolai will let you go.”

Leoni’s eyes were downcast. “But even in the best of circumstances, I will be sent home.”

“ _Solntse moj'o, vzglyani na menya_ ,” he whispered.  _ My sun, look at me. _ She glanced up, and he could see that her eyes were also wet. “You are everything to me.”

She sighed. “You don’t know me. You think you do, but I’ve told you so many half-truths. I don’t want you to stake your life on mine. Leoni Hilli was a fabrication. You have something solid here. Your sister, your entire life.” She sank deeper into the water, so that it went to her chin. “And you will meet a nice Ravkan girl that won’t cause an international incident and live a fulfilling life.”

“I don’t want some nice Ravkan girl.”

“Well it’s not up to you,” Leoni said. “Because tomorrow I will either be on a ship headed home or at the end of a rope. So can we make the most of our time now?”

Adrik tried to swallow the stone in his throat and nodded. They enjoyed the warm water and later one of the private sauna rooms, until the sky began to lighten near the horizon. They shared a deep kiss, Adrik scared of what the next hours would hold.

He didn’t manage to sleep before he was taken back into the judgment room. Nikolai looked frustratingly put together and well-rested. Leoni looked calm and regal, but she was unsmiling. No one in the room was. He glanced at Tolya for any sort of hint, but he had a passive expression on his face. 

“That was a long night I care to never repeat,” Nikolai stated. As if he didn’t have the life of a young woman in his hands. “Very well. Inyoni Mbeki, known as Leoni Hilli, you have been found guilty of treason against the Ravkan crown. The standing punishment is death by hanging. However -"

Nikolai held his hand up as Adrik moved to protest. "Silence. However, she fulfilled the mission she was sent on and helped grisha in the Hringsa network at risk to her own life. Therefore she will be banished and cannot return to Ravka."

Nikolai looked at Leoni. "You have two hours to say your goodbyes, before you will be sent to the embassy."

Adrik felt relief. He had been ready to fight the entire room if it meant getting Leoni away alive, including Nikolai himself. Leoni rushed over to him and hugged him tight. "  _ Luchik moj _ , " he whispered in her ear. 

"My sweet  _ umyeni _ ," she said back. 

He pulled her into a kiss until Nikolai cleared his throat. "Two hours, officer. Don't think your actions in this will not have repercussions. You will be stripped of your commanding rank."

Adrik shrugged and held her hand. "Are we done?"

They were dismissed, and Adrik lead her to his room in the Little Palace. He had already packed most of what he needed. Some clothes, a couple of his favorite books and objects in his large military issue backpack. 

"What is this?" Leoni asked. 

"I'm going with you. They've demoted me and will never trust me again. Nadia has Tamar."

"Adrik, no. I'm not going to be responsible for uprooting your life."

Adrik took a deep breath. Everything would change. "I don’t know your name. I don’t know what Novyi Zem is like, or what secrets you hold. Or if the person you pretended to be is some fabrication of my mind. 

"But I know this. I know your mouth opens just a little when you’re working, and that the first thing you do when you step out is look at the sky. I know when you sleep you hold your hands in front of your heart. I know you’re a morning person, and that your writing looks like artwork. I know you have two cream and two sugar in your coffee but when you think no one is looking, you add another sugar. 

"I can make you coffee in the morning.” His breath shook. He begged. “I  _ want _ to make you coffee in the morning. Maybe that’s what’s important. I don’t know your name, whether it’s Leoni or Madsi or something long forgotten. But I love you. To me, you are always  _ solnyshko _ . "

Tears were freely running down her face. "I love you too. I don't know how, but it happened." Her smile was back. He would do anything to keep that smile on her face. His chest felt full.

Adrik wiped her cheek with his thumb and they went to work getting the last of his stuff packed. 

There was a knock on his door. Nadia was standing there, holding the Zemeni arm in her hand. "Wanted to give this back. David had his fun. Also, I wanted to say goodbye."

"That obvious?" Adrik chuckled, as he took off the Ravkan arm and put the Zemeni one on.

"When Tamar told me you were ready to beat Nikolai into the ground I got the feeling. I'm going to miss you. When this blockade is over you come visit okay? I love you so much, I just wish I could protect you."

Nadia held Adrik tight, then placed her hands on either side of his face. "I will see you soon."

She sniffled before walking over to Leoni and wrapping her in a hug as well. "I wish I could get to know you better. You seem like a wonderful person. Make sure he smiles every so often."

Leoni nodded, and Nadia left. 

The journey to the embassy was quiet, and the ambassadors said they would be on the next diplomatic ship to Ol'Umoyana. Adrik thought he would miss Ravka as its shores grew distant, but Leoni was by his side. He felt nothing substantial towards his country. Only an eagerness for the adventure ahead of him, and the promise of a life with his  _ solynshko. _


	18. Yaropolk

The ocean was a stunning turquoise that glittered under the afternoon sun, turning deep blue as it hit the horizon. The papers in his hand read Yaropolk (or, Yarik) Lyagushin. Inyoni Mbeki stood next to him, leaning over the old city walls. Her curls floated in the wind, and her eyes were closed. 

The bustling port city was unlike any he had ever seen. Zemenis of all shades shouting in different dialects, with people from elsewhere intermingled. He saw squallers and tidemakers openly using their abilities, and no one bat an eye.

He held Inyoni in his arms. She wore three different rings on her fingers. A thin gold band from Ravka, a branch from Fjerda, and a golden band with three pieces of pink coral adorned. 

The music began - a raucous free spirited drumming, defiant in the face of the world's uncertainty and recent terror attacks. But she grabbed his hand and ran into the fray to dance with him. He skillfully used his squaller powers to stay balanced and hold her up. 

He looked different than everyone - pale skin with green eyes and ash blonde hair. But no matter how the Zemenis teased him, they treated him well. Her parents welcomed him into the family, and he soon discovered the communal way of life among them was fulfilling. 

The blockade stretched on. She would answer the call of her country soon, and he knew he would remain by her side when she did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so so so much for reading a long. I hope you enjoyed the fic, and let me know your thoughts. Thank you to the Council of Tides for putting together the Grishaverse Big Bang, and to the artists that I worked with. 
> 
> Leoni and Adrik will be back in Zemeni Extended Universe part 6, which is a direct continuation of Not Everyone Can Aim (my Jesper long fic), and Girl of Many Names. Posting begins next Sunday.


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